Pretty Hate Machine
by AeonFrodo
Summary: One devastating event sets off Ulrich on a dangerous path to self-destruction. Can his friends help him before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1: Nail Me Up Against the Wall

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Moonscoop, France 3, and Canal J. The custom-created characters NOT in the actual series and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with Moonscoop, France 3, Canal J, or any of their affiliates. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Story Note: **This fic is set after the events of the episode, 'Down to Earth'.

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><p><strong>Pretty Hate Machine<strong>

_Anger begins with good intentions._

**Chapter 1: Nail Me Up Against the Wall**

"Long weekend! Whoo!"

That was the first thing I heard from my good friend, Odd, when we were in front of the school gates. It was awesome that we did have a long weekend because it was extremely rare that we had one. However our long 'weekends' only last for two days, not three like the American and Australian schools. Usually, we have Saturday morning classes and Sundays off, but the teachers decided to have an academic meeting on Saturday so we had no morning classes.

However, despite all the excitement my friends were showing, I was depressed. The reason? My father decided to watch my study over the weekend. That meant he wanted to bring me home and keep me locked up in my room except to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Personally, I wish I could feel fantastic about this rare occasion, but there's nothing much to look forward to for the next two days.

I rested my back against the gate, watching my friends smiling and laughing with each other. My lips formed a small grimace, enjoying what I could before my father arrived.

"So, what are you guys doing at Kadic?" Yumi enquired.

"Simple, play as many pranks as I possibly could on Sissi, Herve and Nicholas. It would be a prank-fest!" Odd shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

"How will you play your pranks without Ulrich?" Jeremie questioned.

"Don't worry; I've got everything figured out. Just you watch!"

"I hope so Odd."

Aelita looked over in my direction, probably concerned about me. She could easily read my face, which screamed 'My weekend's going to suck balls'. I was surprised that she was the one that was worried about me the most. Then again, she always looked out for everybody in the group.

I didn't want to speak about it, and I turned away from Aelita. I was more focused on the road, anticipating my father's arrival. I wanted this weekend to feel like a blur.

"Ulrich, are you alright?" Aelita asked.

She should know my answer by now. My face should've said it all.

"No," I mumbled under my breath.

"Ulrich, if it's about your father, you should talk to us to keep your mind off him," Aelita advised.

I spun around, seeing that my friends were all focused on me. They felt exactly the same. I could tell by the look in their eyes. I wasn't in the mood to answer them, but the collective expression on their faces forced me to cough up my inner thoughts.

"I'm just not in the greatest mood to talk. You know my Dad's coming here soon," I reiterated.

"We understand Ulrich, but maybe hearing what we're doing over the long weekend could cheer you up, even for a little while," Yumi retorted.

"Well, I heard Odd's trying to pull off pranks on Sissi by himself, and Einstein is probably going to work on his multi-agent program. So… I already know what half of you are doing," I stated.

"That's true. Still, I'm kind of indecisive about what to do. I want to help Jeremie, but I'm tempted to help Odd pull off some of his pranks on Sissi," Aelita proclaimed.

Wow, Aelita wanting to help Odd with his pranks… that's a first. I seriously thought she would be at Jeremie's side no matter what. If she did go through with it, I wish I was there to see it, because Aelita wasn't the type to make fun of someone at their expense.

"You would seriously help me do that? Thanks Aelita! But what about helping Einstein?" Odd asked.

"Don't worry too much about it Odd. Me and Aelita will work together in the Factory at nights, while I will continue working on it during the day," Jeremie reassured.

I smiled when Aelita thanked Jeremie. It was good to see that Aelita was making the most of her life on Earth after being trapped on Lyoko for about ten years. And it was great that Jeremie was more relaxed about her activities, not feeling like he needed to protect her as much anymore. I was already feeling better about myself, and I need to bask in that happiness before my father arrives.

"Make sure you record the pranks so that Ulrich and I can see them when we arrive back here," Yumi suggested.

"Great idea! Then we can enjoy them years later when we graduate!" Odd shouted, "Why can't you be here when we perform them Yumi?"

"I'm going to a presentation night for my father's work, and it's a family event. So we all have to attend, and the dress code is formal clothing. I'm not exactly looking forward to it but it'll be nice to see what my father's company is doing," Yumi explained.

"Yeah, my father never tells me what goes on at the bank," I replied, with my voice getting lower at each word I utter.

It wasn't the way I wanted to join the conversation, but it was the only way I could. My thoughts were still preoccupied about my father. And the current conversation wasn't helping to get him out of my head.

I heard a low rumbling sound nearby, making me spin around to investigate where it was coming from. Shit. He's here. I could recognise that silver Mercedes anywhere. It was a custom built model, built for senior employees of the bank.

The driver stepped out of the car, keeping his stern gaze fixated upon me. His short, slick dark brunette hair glowed brightly under the sun's rays. His piercing brown eyes maintain their dark look. He wore a very expensive business suit, which exerted his authority. I trembled in fear of his height, knowing he could tower over me easily.

That man was my father, Hector Robert Stern. Forty seven years old, a senior employee of the Paris Bank… and a bloody perfectionist. No matter how much I love him, he seems to scorn me for whatever I do. I want to love him as his son, but he's not letting me. So, I've learned to I hate his guts.

I had one last look at my friends, who all discreetly smiled at me. They were aware I was going straight to hell, and could only show me optimism at this time. I gave them a slight smile in return, sad to leave them without me.

"See you Sunday afternoon," I stated.

"Ulrich! Hurry up and get in the car!" My father commanded. He was giving me no choice.

I turned around slowly, not showing any emotion towards my Dad. I looked up at the car, to hopefully see a glimmer of hope known as my mother. But she wasn't there, and I dug deep into myself. I opened the door to my prison and got into it. My father entered the car, put his seatbelt on, started the ignition and drove off.

As my father turned the corner I pressed my hands up on the window like a curious little kid and took one last look at my friends. They were waving to me as I disappear off into the distance as I watch helplessly. There was nothing I can do, and it won't be too long until my father yells at me.

* * *

><p>"Boy!" My father shouted.<p>

As I guessed, he attacks me while we're in a massive traffic jam. It's normal for traffic jams to happen in Paris, especially in peak hour traffic. My Dad should know not to drive at this hour, because he gets pissed quite easily.

"I'm sick and tired of you getting low grades! Why the hell are you getting low grades?" My father demanded.

I wasn't in the mood to answer my father. My defying silence frustrated my father, as his knuckles burned white while he's grip on the steering wheel grew tighter and tighter.

"Answer me boy!" My father yelled.

I felt like I was going deaf. My ears were ringing with pain with his constant yelling. Then again, I always felt like I was going to go deaf in my father's presence.

"I told you before, I can't concentrate," I stated firmly.

"Why is that? Are you thinking about some hot chick?" My Dad enquired.

"No, I just can't keep my focus," I answered.

"Bullshit! You're a lot better than this, and we both know it! Otherwise you're just wasting my time and money!"

"Dad, just shut the hell up!"

"You're in no position to tell me what to do! You're supposed to learn and get high grades because you are my son!"

"So do you think I'm supposed to be good as you expect me to be? Do you think I bring my family shame by getting low grades?"

"Yes I do! I was a straight A student when I was in High School! I expect you to get the same."

"I'm my mother's son too, or did you forget it takes a man and a woman to reproduce?"

"Say one more thing and I'll drag you into the house!"

I don't give a damn, I've defied him before, and I won't stand down to my father's threats. And most of the things he says doesn't make any logical sense anyway.

"Did you ever think there was a possibility I could just inherit most of my mother's genes and barely get some of yours? By the looks of things, you're implying that I have got most of your genes!"

"That's it! Boy, you're going to be dragged into the house! And don't you dare greet your mother when you enter the house! Go straight upstairs and study! And I don't want to see your face until your mother calls you for dinner! Is that understood?"

I looked in a blank space straight ahead, wanting to drift out of reality and into a fantasy world with all my friends in it. But I obviously couldn't escape my reality this time around.

"Yes, father."

"Good, now keep quiet about it, or I will think of something worse to do to you."

I made a silent sigh, and looked down at my feet. Why can't my father just be more understanding to me? Why couldn't I have a normal Dad? Why me? I kept my gaze on my feet for the rest of the car trip, without saying a word in my father's presence.

* * *

><p>Dad drove into the driveway of his house, and we were home… Well, he was home, I wasn't. I took my seatbelt off and got out of the car quickly knowing that my father would yell in my ears.<p>

I walked hastily to the front door and opened it up to the world of my house. My eyesight picked up the lounge room at first, and everything looked all organised and not messed about. Then I looked up and noticed our small kitchen at the end of the large living room, and my mother was cutting up a carrot.

"Mum! I'm home!"

Mum looked up, and had a huge grimace on her face seeing that her son was safe from harm. She dropped the knife, and walked around the bench to give me a hug. I don't care if Dad scolds me for this, I'm just glad to be in my mother's loving arms again. Most people would prefer their fathers over their mothers these days, because they are more lenient and less fearful than the other. But I prefer my mother… because I feel safer around her than my father.

"How have you been Ulrich?"

"Good."

I wish I was better while I was embracing my mother, seriously. But Dad put me in a bad mood earlier, so I brought that over to our house. It's not like he's going to go away or anything.

"Don't you remember what I told you boy?" My father's voice boomed throughout the entire house.

My mother turned his attention to him, while I looked up at her face. She was giving him that look, her expression telling my father to let her spend time with her only child. I didn't want to stare at my Dad's face, which would probably have an emotionless expression on it.

"Fine… Five minutes. That's all. Ulrich needs to study."

I wished he used my actual name when it's just me and him alone. But it wasn't the right time to focus on that. I wanted to savour the time with my mother.

"How's… life?" I asked hesitantly.

"It's been alright Ulrich," My mother replied in a soft voice.

But I could hear some trembling through that voice, and I just knew she lied to me to reassure me that everything's alright. But it wasn't. I always wished that I could stay with my mother, but currently, I have an education, friends and I'm saving the world from XANA.

"But I've been wondering about your school life Ulrich… Can you tell me about it?"

"Sure."

As I was explaining the events that happened at Kadic, excluding Lyoko from it, I kept on taking glances at my Dad every now and again, and every time I saw him he had that scowl on his face. It was intimidating knowing he was looking at me and Mum like that, but we learned to ignore him while I was talking about Kadic and my friends.

My mother was very happy to know that my friendships with my friends were staying strong, and that I was improving in both Soccer and Pencak Silat and that I was trying to get high grades. She smiled at me graciously as we embraced; at least, I get to feel loved before I head into my dark world known as my bedroom.

"Ok, time's up," My father interrupted.

Great… he had to say it while I was hugging Mum too. My arms slowly slipped away from her body, as I walked backwards and bumped into my Dad.

"I'll see you at dinner Ulrich."

"Alright Mum, I'll try and not be late."

I walked away from my parents, navigating the house until I found my bedroom. At least I would get peace from my father in there, but I had a bad feeling something was going to happen tonight.

I opened the door to my bedroom, and sat down at my dusty desk. I turned on the lamp, since I couldn't be bothered opening the curtains and got a few books out.

Tonight, was English night, and it was going to be boring by my standards.

* * *

><p>After dinner, I got dressed up in my blue pyjamas that looked exactly like Jeremie's, but except the shade of blue that it was in was the same colour as my dressing gown at school. At least, I had a taste of Kadic Academy while I was here.<p>

I had been studying for a while since I've eaten dinner too, and I've lost track of time. I guess this English study was very interesting… It's about making good moral decisions, and how one decision can change anybody's life, big or small. I knew how that felt, especially since the day I became a Lyoko warrior two years ago, because I chose to be one.

I looked over at my digital watch over at my bed table, which read **22:59**. My head told my body to retire for the night, which was what I really wanted to do after over three hours of non-stop studying. But my heart was beating hard through my chest, like it was telling me something.

My heart was telling me to check on my mother to see if she was alright. It was too hard to ignore, so I decided to get out of my bedroom to see if my mother was fine. Then I could finally get some shut eye.

I limped towards the kitchen, with my legs finally getting the blood circulation they need after sitting at my desk for almost four hours straight. I kept one hand on the wall so I didn't lose my balance, and slowly walked down the hallway.

I could hear my parents having a conversation, and the T.V. was blaring in the living room as I was walking down the hallway. I better keep a low profile of myself. My father wouldn't appreciate me being out of my bedroom at this time of night.

I soon ended up at the entrance of the living room, with the kitchen in view. I stayed behind the wall so I didn't get spotted. I had a really bad habit of spying on my parents, it's mainly to check up on how Mum's coping with Dad's presence, but still, I shouldn't be spying on them, just out of respect that they may be getting along and I don't have to worry about a thing. But I was wrong about that most of the time.

However, my parents seem to be… enjoying themselves. That's the first time I've seen them liking each others compony. My father's hands were around my mother's hips, while they were watching a movie from the kitchen as my Mum was washing the dishes.

They looked really happy too, and I kind of can feel their warmth from where I was standing. I came to the conclusion that Mum was totally fine, and turned away to head back to my bedroom again.

"Danielle," My ears picked up my father's voice.

"Yes?" My mother enquired.

"Do you want to do it? Tonight?"

Wait… was my father implying… No way… I have a bad feeling about this. If my father wanted sex, an act between two people, I just had a feeling that only he desired it.

"No, not tonight," My mother responded with a shaky voice.

I pressed myself again the wall and peeked over to see what was going on next. My mother was facing Dad, with her back up against the kitchen bench. I was concerned for my mother… But I had to see how my father would act to her refusal. If he crossed the line, I'm going to take some drastic action here.

My father grabbed my mother's left wrist, and leaned in close to her and whispered something in her. I couldn't stay where I was.

I sprinted out of my hiding spot while at the same time my mother shouted, "Stop it! Right now!"

I reached my parents in less than three seconds, and swept my father's legs. He managed to keep his feet on the ground somehow, and he lost his attention from my mother, and was now focused on me.

I slowly stood up straight, glaring at my father, who had let go of Mum. I was furious at my father, and I slowly let that rage possess me.

"Boy! Stay out of this!" My father commanded.

I let out an angry breath, and replied icily, "Don't you dare do anything against Mum's will."

My father grew frustrated with my stubbornness, and responded, "Then, you'll pay for your defiance."

My father suddenly threw a punch, but I moved my head to the right to avoid it. I left the palm of my right hand opened and slammed it into his jaw with full force. My father's head violently went back as he absorbed the force of my devastating blow. Although, I thought it would disable him for some time.

My father surprisingly was able to recover from the blow quickly, as he shook his head and growled. He bent down low and made an attempt to perform that sweeping move I did to him earlier. But I had jumped and twisted my body to execute a kick of my own, right in the head again.

My Dad fell to one side as I landed, and I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I had to beat him up until he was too exhausted to be physically forceful to my mother, as I didn't want her to get hurt by him. My father managed to stand up though, and I noticed his clenched fists, with his knuckles burning hot white. Oh great, I have to bring him down with the next blow.

I ran up to my father, ready to punch or kick him where it hurts the most. However, my father was grinning. Why? But that was the least thing I had to worry about. I suddenly felt a horrible pain in my stomach, and I realised that my father had directly punched me in the stomach. I staggered backwards, and swore.

In a blink of an eye my father kicked me right in the face with his left foot, and I was flying through the air temporarily. I hit the kitchen tiles hard with my back first. I gasped in shock as I saw my father approach to land another blow on me. I leapt to my feet, but my father aimed his kick high. So I jumped down, grappling onto my father's right leg, and kicked his left shin. Hopefully that would make him fall.

I looked up at my father's face, staring upon me with absolute hatred. Looks like my attacks did nothing to him, and my anxieties grew to overwhelm my body. My father quickly stomped on my stomach, making me cry out. I glanced over at my mother, who looked so distressed baring witness to this. I'm such an idiot doing this, but yet again, it was just my natural heroism kicking in, but it failed for me.

"Stop doing that to Ulrich! I'll do what you want me to do for tonight. Please!" My mother pleaded.

I don't know why my father did this, but he pressed his foot into my stomach harder. But I didn't scream out, otherwise my mother would be even more distressed. I gritted my teeth at the dramatic irony of the situation, because I was supposed to be protecting my mother, not the other way around.

My father finally lifted his foot of my body, assuming that I was too weak to actually get up to stop him. But then again, I did exhaust most of my energy with my attacks earlier. I was doubling over, and my body refused to stand on two legs.

"Well, how could I not accept that offer? Of course I accept. Now, come with me," My father ordered.

As my father walked away, my emotions were bubbling inside. I had this mix of negative feelings surface up to my body, as well as my natural heroism I could not possibly block out of my system. It was so powerful that it somehow recovered my strength. I couldn't let my mother be taken away like this, especially when it's against her own will. I had to stop him, and I don't care if I die.

I sprung up to my feet and ran at full burst along the kitchen tiles. I leaped towards my father and clung onto his upper body, which forced him to let go of my mother's hand. My father was struggling to get me off, but I didn't let up. I was holding onto him like a leech sucking his blood.

I suddenly pulled back, to put plenty of weight on my father so we both fall down. I expected some pain from him falling on top of him, but I'm doing whatever I can to stop him getting what he wants. Dad jerked backwards and lost his balance. He fell down on top of me, and I received a lot of pain being crushed between the tiles and my Dad's body weight. He was a lot heavier than me.

However my Dad immediately rolled off me and picked himself up. I did not expect he'll do that, and I was still recovering from the all pain. He bent down and picked me up by my pyjama top's collar, which almost felt like he was strangling me. He elevated me high up in the air, which was not good, because I could feel my strength being zapped away.

I could hardly breathe, so I forced myself to focus on my father's dark eyes to do so, even though they were filled of detest for me. I kicked my father's stomach repeatedly in desperation. But he was unfazed by the jabs.

I looked down out of fear of losing my breath… but more of my energy was drained. And my eyesight became blurry. Oh no… not this time… It's not a good time for it to kick in. Why did he have to know my greatest physical weakness?

My father was walking across the kitchen tiles while I'm dangling in the air just looking like I'm begging for mercy. Suddenly, he moved his arm and rammed my back into the upper cupboards, and I felt a sharp pain throughout my entire body. He was even pushing me into the handles of the cupboards, and I just wanted to scream. I didn't though; my mother would probably get more distressed than she was.

"Dad! I don't want you to hurt Mum!" I cried out desperately.

"Then you shouldn't have defied me before _failure_."

Failure… that word really echoed throughout my head. My nerves froze in the coldness they had felt from my father. I had failed protecting my mother from him, I had failed to defeat him, but the thing that stuck out the most was that I had failed myself. I was paralysed.

Suddenly, I felt myself falling… But it went in slow motion, as I descended to the floor. The floor though looked like a white, fluffy pillow ready for my head to rest on as I fell closer to it. But my vision was blurry, and I knew exactly what the floor was made of. Cold, stone, marble that could shatter my bones like glass.

I landed on the tiles with a thump going through my body like an earthquake, and it stung. My vision was so blurry though… I couldn't really see a thing. Although, I'm glad I won't have to see my mother's devastated face.

I heard a familiar sound… Like when I draw out my katana on Lyoko. But I knew it wasn't my katana someone was pulling out… And there was nothing I could do to stop that. My mother was crying out in distress while at the same time gasping. I wished I was deaf at that moment.

"Let's hope you'll be able to see the light of day again," My father's voice stated.

I felt a sharp pain erupt from my body, mainly coming from my head and it depleted my energy. I closed my eyes as my mother was screaming out in her angry yet sad fury.

My body was frozen and cold, and I had lost all my senses. I should have stayed in my bedroom, where I was safe from harm. Because I learnt today that one decision could change my life, when it comes to life and death. But it was already too late to learn that.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Pretty brutal beginning, I have to admit. I was debating whether I should put this at M or T rated, but considering there's not any graphic detail of gore or sex, it fits with the T rating. Well, at least I hope so.

The _'one decision could change your life' _philosophy came from the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords (KOTOR2: TSL). It was quite a big theme in that game, and evidently, one of the themes for this fic.

For those who don't remember, the Lyoko gang have fought XANA for two years (and a bit). This was actually stated in the episode 'A Lack of Goodwill' where Milly and Tamiya interview Jeremie about Lyoko, and responds to their question 'We began about two years ago' before activating a return to the past.

Ulrich's greatest physical weakness is Vertigo, revealed in the episode, 'Vertigo'. It's pretty much dizziness when one is feeling stationary, however it appears that it only affects Ulrich when his feet are not on the ground.

Also, some readers may recognise that I've reused some scenes from a fanfiction I published and did not complete three years ago, known to all as the Psychology Trilogy. It was posted on an independent Code Lyoko fanfiction website before it went down. When I got inspired to write this fanfiction, I thought I could use some of the scenes from that fanfiction and use it to tell this story. I didn't want writing like this to just remain on my computer as part of an uncompleted story. I had to alter the scenes slightly to make them sound more coherent and to make sense with this story. So, is this a rewrite? No. The Psychology Trilogy chapters each had their individual theme, while this story will have plenty of themes, sometimes multiple themes in a chapter. And the last 'reused' scene will be in the next chapter, so it's a different story.

Well, I hope that explains everything. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have the time to review the story!


	2. Chapter 2: Looking for the Cure

_Thanks to everybody that reviewed this story so far. Just to let you know, this story will be updated on Thursdays/Fridays for you guys, while for guys that live around Australia, it's Friday/Saturday._**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger propels me to search for something that makes me smile again._

**Chapter 2: Looking For the Cure**

I felt a hand pat my head as I regained my sense of feeling back. I was still in darkness though, but feeling someone's soft touch made me feel like I was in heaven.

I probably died last night, there was no way I could had survived that conflict with my father. But I had felt regret, because now my mother was forced to deal with him alone, and she definitely won't be able to handle him.

I moved my fingers of my right hand slightly, as I felt my way around. I was on this soft surface, had no idea what it was, but it definitely felt like I was in heaven.

I slowly opened my eyes, and was greatly disappointed that I was not in heaven, but in hell on Earth. However, the first thing I saw was my mother's tired looking face and her frizzy hair. I'm glad she's still alive, although she smelt like my father. At least that woke me up fully.

I scanned my surroundings, and I'd realised I was on a couch in front of the T.V. I wanted to get up and check if Dad's home, because he'll push me to my limits.

I attempted to sit up, but Mum placed a hand on my chest and slowly pushed me back down into my resting position. I was too weak to actually slide across the couch and move my legs.

Something must have happened last night, because most of it was a blur. I remember my father called me a failure, and with this incredible pain through my body he dropped me on the ground, in the kitchen. Then all of a sudden my energy was sapped and I lost my life.

Or so I thought I did, but I'm alive somehow. However, an upsurge of fear had bubbled under my skin, and I started to tremble. I've never felt this way in my entire life, especially when it comes to fear. I had blocked out many of my fears, but the more I thought about trying to remember what happened last night, my fear would escalate to an overwhelming level.

The memories flashed before my eyes, and every single moment was snapped like a photograph before my eyes. My father dropping me dead was- and my blurred vision all seemed to repeatedly appear before me.

My vision suddenly wavered to seeing through my father's eyes. As he drew out the knife from the block, and dangled it loosely in his jittery fingers. At that moment, I could feel his frozen emotions, there was nothing rising up within him, but I could see that entire scene shaking at the rhythm of my fast heartbeat.

Then I suddenly switched to my point of view, with my poor eyesight I could only shape out my father's legs. I attempted to look up, but when I did that, my body was running rampant with pain, and I wanted to scream.

I woke up from my nightmarish daydream without realising it, and sat up abruptly. I've never been driven by fear, but it had its control over me, and I couldn't snap out of my state.

I placed my hands on my mother's shoulders brusquely, staring deep into the pupils of her eyes, which contracted due to shock.

"Mum! Is Dad here?"

"Ulrich, are you al-"

"Where is Dad? Just where the hell is he?"

"Ulrich, you need your-"

"Is he around the house? Is he still there? Please tell me!"

The house was dead silent after my outburst. But I couldn't stand silence anymore; I wanted an answer from my mother. My hands gripped her shoulders tighter, but the trembling never ceased.

My mother calmly stroked my left cheek and replied in a very reassuring voice, "Dad's at work Ulrich. You're safe for now."

I panted loudly in response, knowing that he'll return, and he'll probably beat me up the way he did last night. I didn't want to face the rest of the day, and the rest of my life.

My mother sighed, and stated, "This has affected you more than I thought it would. I'll cook your favourite meal for breakfast time sweetheart, you just rest here."

I relaxed back down on the couch as my mother got up and went to the kitchen. I felt my body grow cold as some more of my energy was sapped away. I had nothing to do but rest, and I fell into my world of dreams.

_**My Dream**_

_Thirteen years old, that's how old I was when I decided to look around the house for a portable video game console I lost. I had looked everywhere for it, well at least I thought I had searched everywhere for it at the time._

_Only my mother was home at the time, while my father was at work. At least it was safe to go into my parents' bedroom at the time._

_I quietly opened the door to their bedroom, and scanned the area. I noticed my parents' wardrobe and walked towards it. I knew it was rude to look at my parents' selection of clothing, but my GameBoy Advance SP had been hidden there from me before when my father confiscated it._

_I opened the sliding door to the wardrobe, and I was met with a neatly organised wardrobe with my parents' hanging clothes. I could easily tell which side of the wardrobe was my mother's, so I bent down and looked on the left on my father's side._

_I remembered him hiding my GameBoy in a box some place low in his side of the wardrobe and it didn't take me long to find it. I carefully pulled the rather heavy cardboard box towards me and peered into it._

_There! My black GBA SP was there on top of some files my Dad had kept. I grabbed it, but I noticed a name on top of that file that intrigued me. _

_I read the name across it, which was: JEREMIE BELPOIS._

_I gasped in shock, wondering how my father got a hold on one of Jeremie's confidential files. I opened it up in curiosity, and read the basic information it had of Jeremie, just to see if it was really the Jeremie Belpois I know._

_The file had this information written on it:_

_Full Name: Jeremie Albert Belpois  
>DOB: 284/1992  
>Ethnicity: French<br>Age: 13 years, 2 months  
>Occupation: Student<br>Most recent GPA: 99.8_

_I finished reading from there. I knew from those six points that was my friend Jeremie Belpois, but my fears weren't over yet. My father may have information on my other friends._

_And I was right. There were files of my friends. After Jeremie there was Odd, and then Yumi. I'm so relieved Aelita's file was kept confidential, if she even had a file._

_I checked out Yumi's file just to see if it was really her that my father was checking out._

_Full Name: Yumi Sakura Ishiyama  
>DOB: 2310/1990  
>Ethnicity: Japanese<br>Age: 14 years, 8 months  
>Occupation: Student<br>Most Recent GPA: 87.3_

_That really was her. But I couldn't believe my father was trying to get information about them in all ways possible. The conclusion I made from what I just saw was that my friends are in danger if I tell them about my home life. I was going to tell them next term, but I'm afraid that I'm going to keep that one massive secret._

"Ulrich! I've made your breakfast," my mother's voice whispered in my ear, waking me up from my slumber.

Although, at that moment, it wasn't a dream I was dreaming, it was a memory from the past, a flashback. But it was something I didn't want to remember. My father knew my 'good-for-nothing' friends, not personally, but through files and documentation, mainly of their schooling.

I felt new weight on my lap, and looked down to see my breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs. I sat up, smelling the aroma of the delicious food before me. Then I dug into the food with my knife and fork. Man… Mum's cooking was always so much better than Kadic's lunch staff's.

"Ulrich dear… Have you noticed your wound?"

I raised my eyebrows in response to that in shock to that question. I placed my fork on the plate and moved my hand up to my head, where I mainly felt the pain from last night. Under my fingers I could feel a rough bandage that covered my forehead. I pressed my fingers hard on the place where it really hurt, and it stung like hell and the wound was somewhat deep.

"Don't touch it Ulrich, it will only make it worse."

I moved my hand back down and grabbed my fork. And then, I started to question my own family in my head. Was there a reason why my Dad didn't want me to get low grades? And why does he have to aggressively treat me and my mother to make us succumb to his desires?

"Mum," I started, "Was there anything you wanted to tell me about Dad I don't know?"

My mother looked down in shame I guessed, and she didn't retain eye contact with me. It's like she was in another world when she was making her decision to tell me or not.

"Ulrich… Are you sure you want me to tell you this right now?"

"Yes, the truth is much better than making up stories."

"Ulrich, before you were born your father was a sensitive man who respected any sort of human life. I thought he was the one to spend the rest of my life with. But as soon as we had you… he changed into a completely different person. He wasn't such a perfectionist before we had you, but he became one once you were born. Then I wondered if my husband's always been like that. Your father lives in an era that doesn't exist in France anymore."

I could not see how that was related to what I was asking. But it did give me some insight on my parents' lives before they had me. I wish my father was like that now though.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there was the time when men had rights over women, and women couldn't have the right to vote or have any say in any decision. And your father holds onto that belief like a stubborn mule. He forces me to do things against my will and never holds me with any respect, except when I look after you."

"But the things he did to us last night, and the verbal abuse and physical abuse we've suffered over the years is illegal, isn't it? You should tell the police that!"

"Your father has his ways around that… and every time I tried I failed. The only thing I can do is protect you from him," my mother responded in a trembling voice, as her eyes were welling up.

My emotions were reaching boiling point as I grew frustrated that my father was doing everything that he can to stop my mother from proving him guilty. But then again, he had two things we didn't have, money and power. I wanted to blow the fuse, and my mother could see it in my eyes.

"I'm sorry Ulrich. If I do anything about it, then your father will put me to prison, and then… your father will be the only person looking after you. I cannot let that happen to you Ulrich, no matter the cost," my mother concluded, and let her sadness out.

Tears rolled down her face rapidly, each of them were dripping off her jawbone and falling down on the kitchen bench like rain. I sadly could not feel much empathy for my poor mother at that moment in time, as my mind was corrupted with hatred for my father. My hands formed white fists, with the bones within were aching to burst out of my flesh.

I couldn't hold off my negative emotions, and I slammed my right fist on my plate, making a loud racket getting my mother's immediate attention. I wanted to rip the entire house apart, but I obviously can't.

"If you can't do anything about it, then I'll have to do something about it. I'm going to find some evidence about Dad one way or another, and then I'll make sure that the law can deal with him… properly," I charged.

"Then do it Ulrich. I will support you, but we must do it in a very secret matter. If your father sees us 'plotting' this then- I don't want to think about it. Ulrich… you're the only thing in the world I can live for."

That last sentence sent an earthquake through my world. I literately felt like I had three worlds resting on my shoulders, Earth, Lyoko and my mother's. And I could already feel my heart wanting to escape out of its chains of blood vessels and arteries, wanting to be set free of the stress and pressure I put upon it.

I could feel a drop of sweat making its way down my head, as my emotions built up inside. And I had a bad feeling I was going to break an oath today. Even if I only mention his name.

"I wish… there was a man like Waldo Schaeffer to help us," I absentmindly stated.

"Waldo Schaeffer?" Mum questioned, staring at me suspiciously, "Where did you hear that name?"

"The name came up while I was researching work for English," I responded, keeping my composure, "He's a genius, and he could figure out solutions quite easily to any problem."

"Researching for your project is fine, but… being associated with people like him is dangerous business."

Wait a second; does my mother know Waldo Schaeffer? It sounded like she knew him, or at least, heard of him. But how could anybody hear of him outside the government? I was confused, and perplexed about my mother's knowledge.

"What do you mean Mum?"

"I read an article in the newspaper about the daughter of a man who worked for the government. When the man quit his job, he and his family moved to an isolated area in France. But the government found out where he was living and took away his wife. His daughter never ended up being the same person again."

The story reminded me of Aelita's parents, where she told us she lived with only her father in the Hermitage and her mother mysteriously disappeared. It sounded like my Mum knew how Aelita's mother disappeared, but I can't imagine her knowing Aelita's family directly.

Either way, I think my mother doesn't want me to join something too influential that could turn against me. Even though I'm only up against my father, he was part of France's largest bank. And if I join up with any of the competitors to take him down, taking things into my own hands, it could potentially get ugly.

"I understand, Mum," I replied.

"Thank you Ulrich. I am so proud of you,"

"I'll try my best for you Mum," I vowed, and gave my mother a hug to reassure her.

As long as I feel loved by somebody, I won't throw my life away, unless their life was threatened. It was the same philosophy I stuck by to protect my friends. After all, we were putting our lives on the line to save the world from an ambitious A.I who wrestled free from human control.

"Thank you," My mother started, and let go of me, "Do you want to go out today?"

I was taken by surprise by the unexpected question, but I wanted to answer my mother anyway. It was also rare for Mum to ask me to go out with her. The only times I had been out with her was for grocery shopping trips and Christmas shopping.

"Where?"

"To the shopping centre to buy you something. You deserve it after all you've been through."

"I-I-"

I couldn't really refuse my mother's offer, even though my body needs to rest, I do deserve something for myself once in a while. And this would probably be my only opportunity in ages.

"I'll come. I better get ready."

"Ulrich, I didn't say you have to go out now. Besides, you need more rest."

"I know, but if we go out later Dad would wonder why we're out. It's best if we go now, I'll sleep in the car if you want me to."

"Alright, I'll grab your clothes while you finish off your breakfast. Don't want it to get cold don't we?"

Yeah, thanks Mum. I ate through the rest of my breakfast while my mother got my clothes from my bedroom. I don't know why, but today's going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>Approximately thirty five minutes later, me and my mother were walking around the shopping centre. It was rather large, but there wasn't a lot of space to move considering it was school holidays and there were heaps of people there.<p>

I was wearing the same clothes I wore yesterday, except I had a different pair of jeans on, but they were similar to the ones I wore yesterday. I wondered why my mother picked those clothes for me today, not to mention my mother would had preferred me to wear a different outfit every day.

A lot of people were staring at me weirdly because of the bandage wrapped around my head; even though I wasn't tall or anything like that I stood out from the crowd. And I hated the attention I was getting.

"Ulrich, keep close to me," My mother ordered calmly through the crowd.

I took a few steps closer to my mother avoiding the people around me. It was pretty hard to do that actually, especially since I'm shorter than the majority of the people here.

I stood less than five centimetres away from my mother, which was good enough to her standards as I was extremely close to her and in her sight.

"Ulrich, did you want anything specific?"

Oh great, I hate to be thinking about the gift I'm about to get. I would like to be surprised for once, but sadly I'm only surprised by what my friends give me. But then again, I always wanted this something since last year, and I could get it today.

However, from out of nowhere, a man dressed in black darted his way through the crowd and snatched my mother's handbag. As he ran past me, I spun around and sprinted after the man. Adrenaline quickly moved my limbs as the energetic substance took over my body. It was a similar feeling to last night. The same feeling that almost got me killed by my own father. But somehow I ignored all traumatic memories of that incident, because I was sick of my mother suffering from greedy men who have no consideration for anybody's feelings.

Fortunately, it was easy to stay in pursuit of this man. The people saw my bandaged head, and assumed that man had injured me, allowing me through the crowd, while the man had to push people out of his way. I was gaining on him very quickly. Soon, I was only two metres behind him, amazing since I'm not at full strength.

We suddenly reached a clearing in the shopping centre. But the change of environment didn't faze me as I kept on charging towards him. I couldn't believe I was going to take down a burglar and retrieve Mum's handbag at my current physical strength. The battle from last night still drained a lot of my power from me, but I knew I could do this.

Abruptly, the man stopped, turned around and drew a weapon in one fluent motion. I just hit the brakes in the nick of time, recognising that he had a weapon in his hand. But not just any weapon. He had a _kitchen knife_, very similar to the knife that caused my wound on my bandaged head. And my eyes were fixated on the weapon that almost took my life. That was wielded by my father.

_FLASH!_

I envisioned my father drawing out the blade from the knife block, with my mother horrified of the events that were unfolding in the background. I grew scared… I was beginning to relive the events of last night. And it was something I didn't want to relive again. So many feelings were rising to the surface… fear, duty, selflessness, devastation… hatred? No… I didn't feel hatred last night. I was protecting my mother, not fighting my father out of spite.

That _knife_ triggered it all. The knife the robber was wielding. However, I was frozen, hesitant to move in fear of hurting myself. I was already injured in a bad place and I didn't want to make it worse for myself. But I had to stop this guy or he'll get away with Mum's money and other things she kept in there.

Suddenly, the thief lunged the knife towards me. Instinctively, I jumped back, but tripped over my heels and fell to the floor. My elbows were the first to make heavy contact with the _cold, stone, marble floor_.

_FLASH!_

A sharp pain erupted throughout my body… which was strange because my arms should only be greatly affected by this. Oh no… It was the same pain I felt last night. After I fell on the cold, stone, marb- No. This whole event was playing out like last night, except I was completely conscious and aware of what was happening.

And I was in that same position again. On the floor, with my attacker wielding a kitchen knife, about to perform the _coup de grace_ on me. I had to stop him. I had to prevent my own death. I hate him for reviving those memories of last night!

From out of the blue, two security guards brusquely grabbed the man's arms. They quickly disarmed him and apprehended him. It all happened so fast. Faster than my own heartbeat… which was still pumping at that phenomenal speed.

However, time stood still for me. I just blankly stared at this man who was stripped of his weapon and of my mother's handbag. And all I could feel was anger and hatred. I wanted to be the man who was able to fight back an armed criminal. I wanted to overcome this memory. But I'm just a pathetic teenage boy who tried to help his mother.

"Ulrich, are you alright?"

I flinched at the sound of my mother's voice. I had no idea how I could respond. After experiencing flashbacks of that traumatic night and almost having the same thing happen was incredibly overwhelming. Overwhelming enough to silence me.

"Ulrich?"

A security guard walked up to us, with my mother's handbag in his possession. He seemed emotionless, but I could tell he was relieved that I wasn't harmed. It looked like he was depending on his teammate to secure the robber in place.

"Ma'am, your son was very brave in the face of danger. Without his help, we wouldn't be able to catch the thief. I'm sure you're very proud of him," the security guard stated, handing back Mum's handbag.

"Yes I am. Although, I must thank you for saving my son. He's very frail at the moment. His recent injury has been sapping away his energy drastically and I'm sure this has taken a lot out of him," my mother responded.

"If you don't mind ma'am, how did your son attain his injury?" the security guard enquired.

That was a question I did not want to answer. I did not want to reach into my memories again and pull out that specific moment of _how_ that injury occurred. I couldn't watch that happen for the third time today.

"Three days ago some rough characters forced my poor son into their car. They then put his head out of the window far enough so that he would hit signposts as they were driving by. There was one time my son clipped the edge of one of the signposts and was heavily bleeding from his head. He has several thousand stitches across his head and he needs to have a bandage around his head to avoid the stitches from loosening up in the warm air. It was quite a horrifying experience. Fortunately those hooligans were arrested for their actions," my mother lied.

Wow, I had no idea she could make up a very extensive story about my injury. But… _why_ did she need to cover the truth up? We could've been set free from my tyrannical father… unless my mother knew he would find some way to override them and say he was in the right. Damn it! I wish there was a simple way to bring him justice!

And if I couldn't defeat my father for at least some sort of redemption, at least I should've been able to take down that thief and release hell on him. Instead I didn't. I froze, like a wimp, and almost got myself killed. I couldn't release my anger, and it remains bottled up inside of me, wishing to explode into the outside world.

The security guard pulled me up to my feet. I was reluctant to stand up myself, but I had to remain strong… for my mother. I put my hands in my pocket, and stared at my mother, who looked a lot better than she was this morning.

My mother continued to speak to the security guard about what happened earlier. I remained silent, containing my anger, glaring at those who were looking at us instead of minding their own business.

I thought this would help me overcome what happened last night, but it had made it worse. Not too much, but enough for me to notice the effects of it. Looking for a cure was harder than I thought it would be.

* * *

><p>Approximately half an hour later, we were going home. I'm relieved I'm out of the squashed up shopping centre and that I don't have to be in the same environment where I almost got killed. I've got the new game for my DS too, so I'm feeling better at the moment.<p>

I'm in the car, reading the back of the box for my new video game. I should read the instruction booklet before I return to school tomorrow, because I left my DS in my dorm room, and it'll be a good way to prepare myself for playing the game.

"Ulrich."

I gave my mother full attention while she kept her eyes on the road. I wonder what she wanted to talk to me about.

"Is there anybody at your school now?"

Why would she ask that, I thought. It was a strange thing to ask me at this time too. Most of the dorm students were at the school, probably enjoying their time off schoolwork.

"Yeah, three of my friends are there."

"Do they have a good hiding spot for you in case your father runs after you?"

Okay… This was getting too creepy. Why was Mum asking me all these questions? Was she planning something?

"Mum, why are you asking me these things?"

"Because I believe you'll be a lot safer at school than at home."

"Are you worried how Dad will react to that?"

"Not in the slightest Ulrich. At least you're safe from him."

I don't believe Mum's doing this to me. It's absolutely risky for her to do so too, and if I get found I would definitely get beaten first then get the verbal abuse second. Although, it's her maternal instinct kicking in, and I'll think it would be best if I bow down to her wishes to keep me safe from Dad. Even though she would get hurt herself.

"Yeah. There's a factory nearby. Dad will never look there."

"Alright, I'll drop you off at Kadic. I trust you know what to do once you're there."

"Yes."

"Good… I'm sorry we couldn't spend as much together as we hoped to."

"I understand Mum."

We were in complete utter silence as my mother drove me to Kadic Academy. Listening to the car's engine kept my thoughts occupied. It was very soothing.

It took a few minutes reaching the entrance of Kadic. It was strange not seeing a single student and teacher in sight, but the schoolyard looked more peaceful. And I won't be flocked by obsessive girls. At least, for a few days.

Mum stopped the car, and paused for a moment. I stared at her saddened face before I part from her. I found it disappointing too, but it's to keep me safe from my abusive father for the time being.

"Mum, I'll miss you. I'll try and contact you as much as I can."

My mother shed a tear, and embraced me. I didn't wrap my arms around her though, I was frozen, but the teardrops from my eyes kept me warm inside. I hope my mother can keep safe somehow while I'm gone.

"Goodbye Mum."

My mother slowly let her arms slip away from my body, and wiped a tear away from her left eye.

"I'll see you later, my son."

I slowly got out of the car and showed a weak smile to my mother. At least if I don't see her again, her last memory of me would be a gracious smile she'll never forget.

I kept looking at the car until my mother drove off. I hope she can keep herself safe and alive and well as I ran off to the Factory with the video game in hand. I would usually head to the direction of my dorm room, but I can't afford to be spotted by my friends here. I need some time to myself, to contemplate what happened within the last twenty four hours.

Darting through the forest to ensure I don't get spotted by other kids here, the running thought in my mind was concern for my mother. I know she'll get beaten by Dad because she let me return to school early. I know she'll be participating in a sexual act against her will. And there's nothing I can do about it, except worry.

I climbed down into the darkness of the sewers and ran the entire way to the Factory to avoid causing suspicion by using my skateboard. If I remember correctly, Jeremie and Aelita would be hanging out in the Factory during the night, so I shouldn't move anything out of place.

I soon ascended back into the light and ran across the bridge to the Factory. I grabbed the rope and quickly reached the ground floor. Although, instead of heading to the elevator, I went in another direction to enter the Supercomputer Laboratory through a longer route. This was just in case Jeremie was in the Supercomputer Lab during the day.

In the large room with conveyor belts and old robotic arms to construct cars, I quickly spotted the small door along the floor of the room, knowing it was the other way to access the Supercomputer Lab. I ran towards it, softening my footfalls as I stepped closer to it.

I carefully opened the small doorway and peered down into the lab, scanning the room for any human beings. Fortunately, Jeremie wasn't sitting in his seat, so it was safe to enter. I descended down the ladder, and sighed in relief once my feet touched the floor of the lab.

It was the perfect sanctuary to spend my time for the rest of the afternoon. Even though I wouldn't be allowed to touch the Supercomputer in order to avoid suspicion, I felt safe in this room. It resembled the Kadic forest with its turquoise colour, and it was detached from the rest of the world.

I sat down on the floor and rested my back on the wall, staring at the Supercomputer. I set my alarm on my watch to go off at four in the afternoon. Then, I slowly drifted off to another world. A world where hopefully, it would feel warm and comfortable.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>Wow, this chapter could've gone on so many different directions. I really hope you guys like the direction I put this chapter in.

Jeremie's and Yumi's middle names are references to their nickname and heritage. Albert is the first name of Einstein, Jeremie's nickname. While Sakura is Japanese for Cherry Blossom, which Yumi has a Cherry Blossom tree next to her house (the end of Lost at Sea shows this).

A _coup de grace_ is a saying that means death/fatal blow. I'm assuming it's French, but I'm not entirely sure myself.

This chapter marks the last 'reused' scene from my old fanfic, but most of it has been altered anyway, so only the beginning of it is recognisable.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one.


	3. Chapter 3: The Sick Among the Pure

_Before this chapter begins, I would just like to say thanks to **blueprince**__ for clearing up what 'coup de grace' means. And your English is good actually. Anyway, onto the story!_**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger forces me out of the safest places._

**Chapter 3: The Sick Among the Pure**

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I lifted my head off my arms, groaning. It was the best sleep I had in a long while, believe it or not. It was like I didn't get any sleep at all last night and now I feel like I fully recovered. It was a weird feeling, especially experiencing what happened before. I looked at my watch, which displayed on its small screen, **16:01**. I stood up slowly, attempting to get some movement in my body. As I straightened my legs, I fell backwards. Luckily, the wall behind me stopped my fall. I sighed in relief, but realised that my recovery or getting up from a rest was inhibited greatly.

I finally stood up straight at about ten past four. I carefully stepped towards the ladder up, once again paranoid about Jeremie entering the Factory. I'm aware he could help me with my problems, but I could be placing him in danger. So it's best I better not ask for his help. I grabbed the ladder and stepped up one rung at a time. My strength, which was returning to me, allowed me to make it up to the top quickly. I pulled myself onto the factory floor, and looked around my surroundings.

The sunlight beaming through the high windows was an awe inspiring view. The golden streaks brightened up the Factory, making the metal machines shine under their dusty coat. I never thought machines could become beautiful works of art, but nature proved me wrong. I picked myself off the ground and started running through the Factory, realising how much time I've wasted just staring at the scenery around me. I rapidly reached the exit, closing the door carefully while watching out for any people on the upper floor.

As I let go of the door handle, I heard multiple footfalls from the upper floor. I immediately pressed my back against the pillar holding up the upper floor, using the shade as my cover. I took in deep silent breaths, waiting until I was clear to get the hell out of here.

Abruptly, I heard a loud echo of feet hitting the ground. I peeked over the darkened side of the pillar, knowing it would cover my presence better. I quickly recognised Jeremie Belpois, who went straight for the elevator once he was sure the next recipient of the rope was able to grab it. Looking at Jeremie's lack of alertness of the area, I felt bad that we were so trusting of this Factory that we'd forget how easily somebody could hide from us.

I shrugged that thought aside as I heard more landings on my floor. To my surprise, Odd was there, holding Kiwi in one arm. I wonder why he was here? Anyway, Aelita was also around, probably to assist Jeremie on the multi-agent system.

"C'mon guys. XANA doesn't take any breaks, so we must continue working on the multi-agent program immediately," Jeremie declared.

"What about Odd? What can he do?" Aelita enquired.

"Oh, don't worry about me! I've got Kiwi to play with. Besides, since Ulrich and Yumi aren't here and I'm not on a date, I might as well hang out with you two," Odd reassured.

"Whatever keeps you occupied. Oh, did you guys have fun today?" Jeremie asked.

"Yeah. I can't believe we pulled it off too. I got it all recorded too, so when Ulrich and Yumi return, we could see it altogether," Aelita responded.

The elevator then opened its doors as Aelita spoke the last of her words, inviting them inside. Normally, I would like to follow them in, but I can't afford to reveal my presence, or else they would suspect that something was wrong and I'll have to explain. And that was something I didn't want to do, because to protect them, they have to know little information about my family.

"Let's go," Jeremie stated.

The trio entered the elevator, while I made silent steps along the floor. I remembered that the Factory had security cameras that mainly pick up live footage if the Supercomputer was active. I had to get out of the Factory now otherwise I could be spending a night in this place.

Once the first of the elevator doors were shut, I began sprinting to the other side of the Factory. There was this one time where rats covered the bridge to the Factory, and we were forced to take a boat to another entrance that we rarely use. It was on the side of the Factory that had the largest windows, directly ahead of me.

I soon reached the stairs that lead up to the wooden doors. I quickly scaled the small flight of stairs and burst through the doors, reeking in the sun's rays. For the first time in the last forty eight hours, I felt warm. But I couldn't stay to enjoy it.

I stepped out of the Factory and shut the doors. I ran up the stairs to the bridge and sprinted as fast as I could. I had to find a new hiding spot quickly so I can continue hiding my presence from my friends.

* * *

><p>Four hours later, when the digital clock displayed <strong>20:10<strong>, I peeked over the corner of Odd's bed, checking if anybody was walking past the dorm room. No shadows were cast across the light, so I stood up from my hiding spot and stretched my arms.

I decided to hide in our dormitory room because it was out of everybody's way. Nobody except Jim walked into the room, and as dense as he was he never looked behind the backboard of Odd's bed. And since Kiwi wasn't in the room, it was _almost_ guaranteed that I would not be found here.

What I meant by almost guaranteed was because I needed to get my food into my body. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was starving. So, during dinner, I snuck out of our room and stole some food from Nicholas' room, knowing he always had food, even though he doesn't have a bottomless pit as his stomach. I found Doritos and some Starburst lollies in his room. I ate the whole packet of chips and quite a lot of lollies. It wasn't a suitable dinner, but it could sustain me until I needed to get some rest. When I finished my 'meal', I threw the chip packet into the bin and placed the Starbursts back in Nicholas' desk drawer. I then went back to my hiding spot in our room.

It was hilarious hearing Nicholas go on a rampage about having his chips stolen. Fortunately though, he didn't do a search of our room because Odd did attend dinner in the cafeteria. I'm not sure who looked after Kiwi, but I guess Jeremie did. After all, Odd didn't drop Kiwi off in our room. I think he's learned that I get very annoyed when Kiwi was allowed to roam free in our room.

But for the rest of the time, I repeated the events of last night in my mind. It was difficult to keep those thoughts at bay while I was sitting in one spot, waiting for the right time to run off to another hiding spot. It was something that I couldn't afford to ignore. Why? Because my mother was protecting me from my father, who would be arriving home pretty soon.

Without me there, she would bear the full brunt of my father's wrath. Taking all his punches, kicks… whatever he could throw at her. Then he would take her battered and bruised body upstairs… and I couldn't imagine what would happen after that.

I heavily sighed remembering what I've done during my time here. And now I have to get out of here. Fortunately, I knew the perfect hiding spot for the time being. It was a place where none of my friends would ever go looking for me, and I could have a lot of fun while I'm out there. I hadn't enjoyed myself all day, so I should have fun while I can.

I put my DS game I've been carrying into my drawer and grabbed my wallet. I exited my dorm room, glad that I'm finally getting out of the cramped space I was in. For the next two hours, I'm going to enjoy myself.

* * *

><p>It wasn't difficult to sneak out of school, thanks to almost everybody being in the rec room at this time of night. It took fifteen minutes to reach my destination. A motel, or as Australians would simply call it, a pub. It was a place where you could relax or drown out your sorrows. You could talk to strangers where they would love to socialise with you because you're talking to them. It was a great place to kill time.<p>

Before I entered the motel, I set my alarm to go off at eleven o'clock. My watch displayed **20:35**, so I'll be there for about two and a half hours. Plenty of time to chat to others outside my school environment.

I walked into the motel with a grin on my face. There were plenty of people to talk to. Some were eating meals while talking to their friends, while others just enjoyed a few alcoholic beverages. There were some kids there too, younger than me, who just drank soft drinks while their parents talked to their friends. There were also some pinball machines and a pool table to keep people amused.

The stereo speakers in the motel were blaring out music, and it sounded rather relaxing. The acoustic guitar strings while the vocalist's mellow voice added to the atmosphere of the environment here. While walking to the counter, I listened out for the lyrics of the song to see if I knew it.

_**Her name is Yoshimi**__**  
>She's a black belt in karate.<strong>_

I sat on the seat and waited for the bartender to serve me. I continued to listen to the song. I hadn't recognised it yet, but I was still curious if I knew it.

_**Working for the city**__**  
>She has to discipline her body<strong>_  
>'<em><strong>Cause she knows that<br>It's demanding  
>To defeat those evil machines<br>I know she can beat them…**_

"Hey kid, you need a drink?" the bartender asked.

I stared directly in his eyes, almost jumping at the sound of his voice penetrating my concentration. I think I can safely say I'd never heard this song before.

"Just a lemonade thanks," I responded, grabbing five euros from my wallet.

"That'll be two euros," the bartender stated.

I handed the bartender two coins and waited for my drink to be served. I already felt a lot better just being here. Much better than hiding in isolation that's for sure. I looked over at the rest of the patrons in the pub, who seemed to be having fun. Hopefully, somebody would come up to me and talk to me, other than the bartender of course.

"Here's your drink, kid," the bartender declared.

I turned around and thanked him before taking a sip of my drink. The bartender kept on staring at me, and I wondered why was looking at me like that.

"What happened to your head? It looks like you had a nasty accident," the bartender enquired.

Oh, I completely forgot I still had that bandage wrapped around my head. I couldn't exactly take it off though since the wound wouldn't have healed yet. I just had to use my mother's lie to cover how I attained the injury.

"Some dangerous guys forced me in their car and forced my head out the window so I hit my head on the signposts. I clipped the edge of one of them and I had a serious wound on my head. That happened about a week ago, so I should be able to take off the bandage soon. I'm here to be grateful that I'm alive today," I explained.

"Geez. Well, don't push yourself to stay up late. If you want to take off that bandage soon you better get a lot of rest," the bartender replied.

As I opened my mouth, I felt a hand pat my shoulder. I turned my head, seeing another guy. He was obviously older than me since he had plenty of stubble on his chin. He had shoulder length brunette hair and green eyes. He also looked affectionate, probably because he overheard my story.

"Wow dude, I feel sorry for you. What's your name?" the man asked.

"Ulrich."

"I'm Glenn. Look, I'm only hanging out with two other people, and we need one more person so we can play pool together. And since you've been through a horrible event recently, I thought you should have some fun with us. What do you say?" Glenn offered.

"Of course. Thanks."

"No, thank you for joining us."

I grabbed my drink in one hand and shuffled off my seat. I took another gulp as Glenn escorted me towards the pool table. The bartender told Glenn to look after me, and he gave him his word. This was better than I expected. Looks like I'll end my long weekend on a high note.

Glenn brought me to the pool table, where he introduced his two friends, Nicole and Bonnie. They were sisters, both of them had blonde hair, but they had different eyes. Nicole had brown eyes, while Bonnie had blue. They were very nice, and they felt sympathy for me after I told them my story, even though it was a lie.

I was teamed up with Bonnie when we played pool. Despite that I haven't played the game much; I did a decent job at my role. It was a close match, but we lost after the black ball missed the hole it was supposed to fall into.

"Good game Ulrich. Not bad for playing with an injury, that's for sure," Glenn complemented.

"Thanks, should we go for another match?" I asked.

"Sure, you girls want to play again?" Glenn enquired.

"Yeah," the girls answered in unison.

"But first," Glenn began, scooping up his glass and raising it high.

Me and the girls picked up our drinks and lifted them around the same height Glenn was holding his. I knew what was going to happen, so I smiled.

"To a wonderful night!" Glenn exclaimed.

We tapped each others' glasses and we all took a huge gulp of our drinks. That was the last thing I remember before-

* * *

><p>The analogue clock in the motel struck <strong>10:30pm<strong>, half an hour before Ulrich's alarm was supposed to go off. The four mainly socialised around the pool table and played the game. After the toast, it appeared that Ulrich was performing at his game better. He was getting in difficult shots and made less mistakes since his first game.

However, during the latest game, he began drooping over the table. The bartender, who watched him very carefully, grew worried. Ulrich was clearly staying up too late for a boy with a severe injury.

"Hey Glenn! You should take Ulrich home! He looks exhausted!" the bartender shouted.

"Yeah. C'mon girls. We better lead him home," Glenn ordered.

Bonnie and Nicole agreed, and finished up their drinks. Glenn put one of Ulrich's arms on his shoulders and carried him out of the motel. The girls soon followed, and walked beside the two guys.

Even though it was later in the night, the streets had gotten busier. There was more traffic on the road, and more pedestrians on the footpaths. It was Saturday night, and everybody was going out for a night out. People either celebrated by going to a motel, a restaurant or a nightclub.

The group lead Ulrich to a place not too far off motel they were just playing pool in. They were in a large gap between two large buildings. Glenn rested Ulrich on the brick wall, and shook his limbs before speaking.

"So, where do you live?" Glenn asked.

"The local high school. Kadic Academy," Ulrich answered.

"Kadic? Where's that?" Glenn enquired.

"It's close by to here. About fifteen minutes walk from here. However, it would be very difficult to get him into the school. I think it's best if he stays with us for the night," Nicole suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea. Do you want to stay over with us Ulrich?" Glenn asked.

"Yeah. That'll be great," Ulrich responded.

"Can you walk?"

Ulrich took a step, but suddenly fell forward onto Bonnie. It was strange. His injury never weakened him like this before. He started feeling that something bad was going to happen soon, and once again, he would be the victim of it.

"Are you alright?" Bonnie enquired in concern.

"No. I'm really tired," Ulrich answered.

"Here, let me wake you up," Nicole declared, advancing towards Ulrich.

Ulrich raised his right arm and planted it on Nicole's chest. He pressed his fingers, pushing her back slightly. He knew she wanted to kiss him, but he wouldn't allow it. His right arm then dropped down to the side of his body like dead weight. He clearly needed some rest.

"Hey, Nicole was trying to help you," Glenn proclaimed.

"She was trying to kiss me. That won't do me any favours at all," Ulrich retorted.

"She was still helping you," Glenn maintained.

"No, she wasn't. And besides, I don't want to be forced to kiss someone I just met tonight," Ulrich argued.

Suddenly, Glenn grasped Ulrich's shirt and nailed him against the wall. Since Glenn was taller than Ulrich, he raised Ulrich up off the ground, making it difficult for Ulrich to breathe. Ulrich started taking sharp breaths, and began to feel immense pain throughout his body.

The girls grew horrified of what they witnessed. They could see Ulrich's life being sapped out of him as he grew slightly paler than he was before. They looked away, afraid of what was going to happen next.

"Why can't you enjoy yourself? What's the problem if you kiss a girl you met tonight?" Glenn demanded.

Ulrich breathed heavily, slowly catching his breath. But as he looked down, he felt his mind painfully drift in and out of consciousness. He realised that his vertigo was kicking in, and he needed his feet back on the ground.

"There's barely… anything between me and her. I won't feel better for it," Ulrich uttered.

When the last of the words escaped from his mouth, his stomach was squashed by a knee and air was forced out of his mouth. Glenn let go of his shirt, letting Ulrich drop to the ground. But Ulrich couldn't stand on his feet, and fell back where the wall caught his fall.

Ulrich stared sheepishly at Glenn, but there was a hint of anger in his eyes. He was angry that his safety was betrayed by this man he had trust in. He was angry that his mother wasn't the only person getting beaten up for their actions. He was angry that he was helpless, like that night.

The injured boy took another blow to his stomach, but held his ground, using the wall to keep him standing there. Leaving Glenn no choice, he threw a kick to Ulrich's face, sending Ulrich down to the earth. Ulrich held his stomach, still recovering from the attacks he withstood. He took heavy breaths, making sure he was still keeping himself alive and conscious during all of this.

Despite his best efforts, he was gradually losing consciousness. His vision blurred, only able to depict human shapes around him. Somehow, he could tell that the girls were sickened by what they witnessed. And that Glenn would continue what he was doing, because no one would stop him.

Unexpectedly, Glenn violently fell near Ulrich. The teenager looked up, wondering who saved him from another beating. But as he stared at the sky, he found the last of his strength sapped from him. He couldn't identify the mysterious hero as he unwillingly closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>-I shot up in a cold sweat. My fingertips pressed the soft mattress underneath them. I felt tired, but I'm on a mattress. So I had to get some sleep. I looked down to see a blanket over the lower half of my body, with top part of it scrunched up against my lower chest. I assumed that the blanket was covering most of my body. But if I was sleeping… why was I still tired?<p>

I planted my head in my hand, suddenly feeling heavy in my head. Why was I feeling this way? Was it how I woke up? Ugh… I wish I knew what was going on. All I remember was that me, Glenn, Bonnie and Nicole had a toast and we drank up our drinks.

"Ulrich! Thank God you're awake!"

I recognise that voice. I turned my head in the direction of where the voice came from. Then I realised why I instantly knew that voice.

It was Yumi Ishiyama. How on Earth did I end up in her house? What happened between drinking up my lemonade and waking up in her house? I really hope it wasn't a bad reason, but I had a strong feeling that I did something wrong.

Her parents sprinted into the room I was in, sighing in relief. Yumi weakly smiled at them, I'm not sure whether she was glad to see them or not. But I must have worried her parents. But what did I do? I guess I'll find out soon.

"Thank God you have woken Ulrich," Yumi's mother, Akiko, proclaimed.

"But we must know why you went out by yourself on a Saturday night. It's dangerous out there, and shouldn't your parents keep an eye out for you?" Takeo, Yumi's father, demanded.

I found it difficult to utter a sentence. I had no intention of revealing why I was out of my family's safe home. Even if I told them I escaped my house, they would wonder how I got there, then they would wonder why my mother drove me to school, then they would wonder why I was at the shopping centre. The questions would lead to the root of the problem, which I wasn't ready to reveal, knowing that Yumi's life may be in jeopardy.

I looked down, to look like I was ashamed of my actions. It was the only way to avoid speaking to Yumi's parents about this. Although, I'm perfectly aware that Yumi was incredibly stubborn, and she probably inherited that trait from one of her parents, or both of them. So they could be ready to interrogate me whether I like it or not.

Fortunately, after some time, they left the room. I'm glad my tactic worked… well, it mostly worked. Yumi was still in the room with me. She gazed at me, concerned as her parents were about me. Deep inside, I want to subside whatever anxieties she had about me. But I did not want to expose Yumi to my father. Knowing her, she would do anything to make my life better, but that would be at the expense of putting her life on the line if my father were to hear about it.

"Ulrich," Yumi called, interrupting my train of thought, "Do you want to tell me why you were out?"

I was perplexed. My heart was divided on telling her or not telling her. I knew the consequences if I told her, but what if I didn't tell her? What would she think of me? I assume I'm already in trouble with her parents and they were really wanting an answer. Could they kick me out? No, they're not _that_ heartless. But they certainly wouldn't trust me. I had no clue what was the right decision, but I had to make one right now.

"It's complicated Yumi," I started, biting my lip nervously, "But you might as well know what's happening."

Yumi looked clueless. I think she was aware that I would answer her question, but I don't think she expected to receive an explanation for it. After all, I talk in straight answers to her, not long winded answers that take forever to get to the point.

"Are you saying that something caused all of this?" Yumi questioned.

"Yes. Is it fine that I start with what happened recently first?" I enquired.

"Sure."

"Before I woke up here, the last thing I remember was drinking the last of my lemonade, with a bunch of people I just played a game of pool with," I began.

"Wait, you don't remember the fight at all?" Yumi asked.

"Fight? What fight?" I said, sounding completely puzzled. Did I really get involved in a fight?

"This guy with brown hair, came up around his shoulders… He fought with you. And he was easily beating you too. Your attacker drew out of knife before I intervened," Yumi explained.

"Glenn," I hoarsely whispered, loud enough so Yumi could hear it, "I knew I shouldn't have trusted him."

"Yeah, he almost killed you. After I dealt with him we got him arrested. And we found out something that you probably need to hear about Glenn," Yumi replied.

I acknowledged Yumi, preparing myself for what I could possibly hear about this guy I met. I hope it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be.

"This Glenn guy was carrying pills in his pocket. I thought they were ecstasy pills or something like that. But it was worse than that. The pills were Rohypnol, designed to put you in this drunk state so that you would be weakened for some time. It also makes you forget the events that occurred during that time. I didn't believe you took it, but when the paramedics showed up they took a blood test from you and it ended up positive for containing traces of that drug," Yumi explained.

However, something was very wrong about this picture, so I retorted, "Didn't they call my parents?"

"They did… but they couldn't get in contact with them. So my parents decided to take you in for the night."

"When did they call my parents?"

"About quarter to eleven."

Crap. I must have been drugged. I didn't believe it at first, but the memory loss and my lack of awareness of the time told me otherwise. Plus I feel horrible at the moment. Must be a side effect of the drug. However, I was mostly concerned about my parents. If they ignored the phone call… It must've meant… Oh no.

My father would've been beating her, then, when her strength was almost depleted… he would've… I don't want to think about it. That's the only reason why they didn't answer, because that was happening. The scary thing was, as I just suddenly realised, that could've happened to me tonight. Glenn had two girls with him for a reason and now I could see that reason. It sickens me.

"Sorry Yumi, this is a lot to take in. Can I continue a little later?" I asked.

"Yeah. Whenever you're ready."

"Oh, and thanks for saving me. I owe you one."

* * *

><p>After ten minutes, I continued explaining what happened to Yumi over the past day for me. I was quite amazed that a lot has happened to me over the past twenty four hours. But I didn't want them to happen. Wherever I went, hell was close behind me.<p>

Yumi was shocked to hear what I've been through. And she respectfully remained silent through all of it, even when I told her about going to school and hiding from my friends. And I haven't even told her about the incident that started it all. But I know she can take whatever I can tell her. She's a very strong person. I just hope she doesn't think she could take my father on.

"Ulrich… why did you have to hide from Jeremie and everybody else? They could've at least prevented… this from happening," Yumi questioned.

"This is the most difficult part to tell to you, and-" I trailed off.

I stopped myself from saying too much too soon. Was I truly prepared to tell Yumi what happened last night, potentially knowing how much danger I could put her in? Would it be too much for her to handle? I found it difficult, but that's because I was there as a victim and a witness. Maybe she won't find it hard to swallow… no, that wouldn't be the right thing to think about. What could I possibly say to make this… emotionless?

"I want you to promise me you won't tell anybody outside your family about this," I proposed.

There was no way in hell she was going to keep this a secret from her parents. Her parents probably told her to tell them everything I said to her. And she also can't carry this burden alone, even though she would say she would be more than capable to. If I receive her word that she would not tell Jeremie, Aelita and Odd this, I would feel so grateful for her.

"Alright Ulrich. I'll keep my word for it," Yumi stated.

"I- You know how I got this injury?" I asked, pointing to my bandaged head.

"I thought you got it from fighting Glenn," Yumi answered.

I took a deep breath. This was it. It was time to tell Yumi how this chaos began.

"I know I got it last night. I remember everything that happened between eleven and quarter past eleven last night. My father dropped the blade of a kitchen knife on the side of my head," I replied.

Yumi silently gasped. The pupils of her eyes dilated. Her face lightened up. Her muscles grew tense. She was shocked to the very core of her body. She didn't expect me to mention my father at all.

After a minute, she finally uttered, "W-What the hell h-happened?"

"I caught my father trying to have sex with Mum against her will. I did everything in my power to stop him… But I failed. My Dad knows my weaknesses, especially my vertigo. When I was down on the kitchen floor, trying to take my father down with me… He recovered faster than I thought he would and raised me up in the air and shunted me against the cupboard handle. I lost the fight for my mother's wishes there… and he sounded like he intended to take my life for defying him. He even left me for dead too while doing… that to Mum," I explained, sounding like I was in another world full of pain and misery, "I knew he was heartless about my grades but this is just taking it too-"

Suddenly, I felt arms wrap around my body and a head resting on one of my shoulders. I couldn't believe it. Yumi Ishiyama was… hugging me. I hadn't felt that affection for quite a long while. Once I identified her, I felt my body relax, taking deeper and fuller breaths of air. Yumi had this… calming effect on me. I can't describe it, but somehow, she makes me feel better about this entire thing.

"I'm so sorry to hear that Ulrich," Yumi whispered, "I can see why you did those things."

I responded to that with silence. I simply didn't know how to answer that. But thanks to her, I felt… lighter. I guess what I was feeling was… relief. Relief that she understands my reasoning, my logic, how I did things during the past day. I hope with that thought, she would keep this a secret. Mainly, a secret between her and me.

She slowly let her arms slip from my body. Then, she stared at me with those deep brown eyes of hers. She looked like she was in a lot of pain too. Perhaps just tired. But most likely, there were other things on her mind.

"We should tell the Police about what your father did. We have to bring him to justice," Yumi declared.

"It's not going to be that easy Yumi. My mother told me that my father knew ways around the system. I wouldn't be surprised it's because he's a senior employee of the largest bank in France. So… there's nothing we can do," I explained.

"Shouldn't the justice system support your case? Isn't the damage done clearly on your head?" Yumi demanded.

"Dad's probably smart enough to buy a new set of knifes, make up fake footage of the incident… anything to clear his name. We're dealing with a very powerful person here," I responded.

"Still, isn't there a way? Especially if a third party is involved… like our family?" Yumi asked.

"No! You can't afford to do that! Dad's going to make your lives a living hell! He can easily grab your parents' bank details and screw them over financially, then you'll be forced to move back to Japan!" I shouted.

Yumi's parents came rushing into the room upon hearing the word 'Japan' slip out of my mouth. We both stared at them, with only my breath breaking the silence in between us. I suddenly realised why my mother advised me against going up against my father using the legal system. He could divide families, like the Ishiyama family, just like that. And I started to feel that sick feeling inside again.

"Is there something the matter?" Takeo enquired.

"Yes," Yumi answered, "But I'll tell you tomorrow. It's getting way too late… and I really need my rest."

"That's a good idea. Talking about it right now isn't going to help us much," Akiko agreed.

"Are you fine sleeping here Ulrich?" Takeo asked.

"I'm fine, sir. Thank you for your hospitality. And I'm sorry to cause… this to happen," I apologised.

"We were in the neighbourhood. And you supported my daughter during our… redundant arguments without incentive. We need to do the same for you in your hour of need," Takeo responded.

I was left speechless. Did my past actions really put me in the Ishiyamas' good books? All I did was help Yumi because she looked like she needed it. It appeared that supporting Yumi was like supporting the rest of the family.

Yumi stood up and walked in the direction of her bedroom. I was sad to see her leave, but understood that she really needed the rest, especially after what I told her. As she was in the doorway, she looked back at me and gave me a weak smile. I smiled back, and mouthed 'thank you' before she entered the hallway.

I turned my attention back to her parents, where Takeo waved to me and returned to the kitchen. Akiko however had one hand on the light switch, ready to turn it off. I carefully let my back relax on the mattress, staring at the ceiling above my head. Boy, I was glad I had a roof to sleep under.

"Goodnight Ulrich," Akiko said.

"Goodnight, Mrs. Ishiyama."

_Click._

I was left in the darkness. I wondered what the near future would hold for me. I hoped that my mother was fine despite what consequences she would've suffered. But then it suddenly hit me. I had not shed a single tear during this entire rollercoaster ride. Not even a tear for my poor mother, who was taking every punch and kick for me.

So, what did I feel during that time? It definitely wasn't sadness or happiness. And it wasn't confusion. It appeared I had been completely neutral throughout this ordeal. But how was that _humanly_ possible?

Wait. I did feel an emotion towards all of this. _Hate._ Why? Because I hated how this single event lead to all of this crap. I hated how my mother was suffering. I hated how I was forced to hide from my friends. I hated that the only way I could enjoy myself was to hang out with strangers. I hated how another family got involved in my problems.

I'm definitely feeling sick among these pure people.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>The song that Ulrich picked up as he entered the motel is called _Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt.1_ by The Flaming Lips. This song actually has a very depressing meaning behind its lyrics. The song is about a girl dying from cancer (represented by the Pink Robots) and a friend is trying to cope with her illness, depicting her as a superhero who is fighting against cancer. This is similar to Ulrich's case, where he's trying to fight off isolation and thoughts of what happened that night which is slowly killing him inside like cancer. Oh, and you can play this song on Rock Band 3, which is pretty awesome.

Countries in Europe use twenty four hour times, so, instead of 8pm, they say its 20:00. I put this in the story just to be realistic with how the clock system in Europe works. Although, I did use an analogue clock once in the pub scene but I have no idea whether European countries use analogue clocks at all.

The temporarily third person POV was to signify that Ulrich had lost his memory during that time. Even though I could've easily not put it in, I wanted readers to know what happened to Ulrich while he was drugged.

Speaking of POVs, this is the last chapter in the story that uses Ulrich's POV. The rest of the chapters in this fic are in third person POV. Some readers may be a bit disappointed about this because it was a pretty awesome setup, but I have to change it starting from next chapters because other characters are getting more involved in the story. Plus, this fic wasn't intended to be an all about Ulrich show throughout every chapter of it.

Like always, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and please review!


	4. Chapter 4: Don't Want Everything

_Wow, I must've been feeling generous within the past two weeks. I updated on the earlier date last week, and now I'm updating 6 days after the last chapter's been updated. Well, this has been a long week, and considering that I'm heading back home from my father's, I might as well post early. I just know for sure the next chapter (after this one) is going to be updated on Saturdays. Anyway, onto the story!_**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger distances me from my friends__._

**Chapter 4: Don't Want Everything**

The sunlight peeked through the thick curtains, with its rays hitting the sleeping Japanese girl. Yumi groaned, slowly opening her eyes, annoyed that the sunlight found its way into her bedroom. She sat up, feeling surprisingly well rested despite staying up until two am in the morning. But she was glad it was Sunday.

She threw the blankets off her body and stood up from her bed, stretching out her limbs. Then, she exited her bedroom, closing the door silently to not wake up her parents or her younger brother who were most likely still sleeping. Carefully, she stepped down the stairs to the ground floor, once again, with her parents and her brother in mind.

Once she reached the end of the stairs, her ears picked up sounds coming from the lounge room. She was surprised somebody was already awake, but kept on walking down the hallway to enter the kitchen. However, as she approached the kitchen, she grew curious about who was in the lounge room, remembering that Ulrich was sleeping on a mattress in there.

She stood directly in the doorway of the lounge room, and was again, was stunned, this time, at who was awake. It was Ulrich, who watching some anime on the T.V. Yumi expected him to sleep in until lunchtime, but that wasn't the case. Either way, he seemed happy to be watching the programme.

Yumi spun around and entered the kitchen. The kitchen was small for one, but it left enough space to cook and eat in there. She took a seat at the table in the middle of the kitchen, suddenly not feeling as hungry as she thought she was.

She stared blankly at the appliances, with her stomach constantly telling her to get up and make something for herself. However, her thoughts were preoccupied with the events that transpired last night.

**Flashback**

_Yumi and her family were coming home from her father's business' presentation night. She was glad it was all over__. It was extremely serious and boring, and her brother was almost driven to insanity by the boredom. Mostly, she annoyed that she had to wear a formal black dress, her mother's pearl necklace and bracelets and worse of all, black high heels she was forced to walk in. _

_She was sitting in the back seat of the car, on the right side, behind her mother, looking out the window. There wasn't really anything better she could do. Hiroki was playing his DS, focusing on killing off monsters. Her parents were chatting with each other, probably how they enjoyed the night, which she found hard to believe._

_The car stopped at traffic lights, but her parents weren't fussed about stopping. They were taking their sweet old time to get home. Yumi shook her head and looked out her window, hoping for something interesting to happen on their slow trip home. _

_Suddenly, her eyes picked up a man punching an injured man in the stomach. That was something she didn't want to witness while heading home. But the person receiving the punch did not crumble down, but held his ground. Yumi was impressed by this guy's stamina, but knew that he would inevitably receive another attack._

_However, there was something about this man that she recognised. She had seen one of her friends wear a darkish green jacket and blue jeans before. But with the bandage wrapped tightly around his head, it couldn't be the person she was thinking about._

_Abruptly, the man was kicked in the head, facing her direction. Yumi blinked, but it was like taking a photograph of him. When she opened her eyes, the man had fallen onto the floor. The aggressor casually walked towards her, but then spun around to face the injured man._

_A mental image of the photograph flashed before her eyes. She could clearly see the man's face… and quickly realised it was a boy and somebody close to her. She averted her eyes from the action and quickly undid her high heels. She needed to protect this poor boy from receiving more damage or he would be dead._

_Once she removed the heels and had them dangling in her left hand, she looked up at the scene again. Her heart just skipped a beat. His attacker drew out a blade. He was going to die unless she intervened._

_Without hesitating any longer, she pressed on the trigger that released her seatbelt and propelled herself out of the car. Ignoring her parents' calls, she sprinted across the road barefoot. She wished she wore something more loose fitting so she could reach the scene quicker. _

_Her feet contacted the footpath, as she handed one heel to her right hand, preparing for the worse as she charged into the scene. She then __grabbed the toe area of the shoe and swang it across her body. The heel connected perfectly with the back of the attacker's head. He instantly dropped his weapon and fell forward._

_Seeing that the aggressor was knocked out cold, Yumi knelt by the body of the victim and turned him over to face the sky. She was right about the person she thought she recognised. Ulrich Stern was the boy taking all the blows despite his injury to the head. He was clearly unconscious, probably due to the violent kick to the head._

_She heard her parents parking the car in front of the alleyway, but her eyes remained focused on Ulrich, so concerned for his condition. At that moment, she couldn't comprehend why he was out here instead of being home with his parents. She questioned if something happened in their home, but then again, he wouldn't do something as dangerous as this. It was against his common sense._

"_Yumi! Are you okay?" Her father asked in desperation._

_Keeping her gaze on Ulrich, she responded distantly, "You should be more worried about Ulrich."_

_Takeo looked over Yumi's shoulder, finally spotting Ulrich. He remained in silence, afraid of how critical his condition was. He stared back at Akiko and Hiroki, who were just getting out of the car, worried how they would react when they saw Ulrich like this._

_Yumi then heard her younger brother's voice ask their mother, "Why did Yumi just get out of the car for this?"_

_Yumi looked back at her mother and her younger sibling, clueless of what just transpired here. They were staring in the opposite direction, probably seeing something Yumi did not see earlier. Yumi decided to look the same way, finally noticing two other witnesses. Both were female and older than her. They were terrified._

"_Ulrich!" Hiroki exclaimed._

_Hiroki knelt next to Yumi, and rested his head against Ulrich's chest. Yumi could tell that he was devastated that his real live hero was knocked out by some nobody. She could hear her brother's whimpers, assuming he was crying._

And she refused to remember more of the incident. Her brother's tears were enough to get her feeling very emotional. She put her head in her hands, wondering why she had to put her family through all of it for one of her friends. But if she just ignored the violent event, Ulrich would've been dead.

At least, realising that she saved a life made her feel slightly better. Ulrich had always saved hers, either by protecting her from a fatal attack by people possessed by XANA or from falling into the Digital Sea. She felt like she returned the favour… without the need of a XANA attack to occur.

However, it wasn't the way she wanted to save his life. He looked like he already died when she rolled him over to see his handsome face. She felt like he was lucky to be alive at this present moment.

"Yumi?"

Yumi looked up and sighed in relief. She was glad that her father was addressing her, and not Ulrich. Ulrich was the last person she wanted to see after all.

"Hey Dad," Yumi stated.

"Are you alright?" Takeo enquired.

"I was just thinking," Yumi answered.

"About last night?"

"Yeah."

"Are you ready to tell me what Ulrich told you?"

Great. She completely forgot about that. However, it was a very good opportunity to get Ulrich out of her mind. She was relived that the terms of Ulrich's promise allowed her to tell her family about this. But then again, he probably kept that in mind.

"Yes. But… it was hard for me to hear this. Are you prepared?" Yumi asked.

Takeo sat down on the other end of the table and replied, "Certainly. Begin when you are ready."

For the next half an hour, Yumi retold Ulrich's story to her father. Takeo had his head lowered after she finished, a physical sign that he was finding all of this hard to swallow. He never thought Ulrich would go through all of this in one day. Deep inside, he wanted to help the poor boy get justice on his father, but his daughter warned him of the consequences. That they could be given a one way ticket back to Japan. His and his family's lives could be ruined just to protect a friend. And Ulrich's single life wasn't worth four lives. Despite this story though, he was happy that they brought Ulrich in for the night after hearing all of this. Otherwise, Ulrich could've easily died on the street last night.

As Yumi was explaining the details to her father, she felt constantly bothered about not being allowed to tell Jeremie, Aelita or Odd about it. Would they also be in danger if she repeated this story once again to them? Or was Ulrich too paranoid about the whole situation? Either way, she had to honour his word. Afraid that if she broke their promise, he would feel that he cannot trust anybody.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, when the clock struck three in the afternoon, Yumi was watching her brother and Ulrich play some video games. It was great that Ulrich was keeping his mind off the traumatic chain of events he'd just been through. Especially since he had been playing with Hiroki for about two hours.<p>

Ulrich was focused on beating Hiroki, as controlled his character to avoid Hiroki's character's attacks. Hiroki was inputting the same strategy, forcing a stalemate between the two boys. Sooner or later, one of them had to break the ice and do something different.

Noticing an item popping up nearby, Ulrich moved his character to the left quickly. Then, pressing the A button, he picked up the item, which he could throw at his opponent. Ulrich smirked.

Ulrich's character threw the item towards Hiroki's character, who was charging at him. Ulrich could feel his victory coming very soon. However, Hiroki's character caught the item and threw it back at Ulrich's character. Caught off guard, Ulrich's character was sent flying off the arena.

Frustrated, Ulrich threw his controller on the ground when the announcer shouted 'Game!'. He was so close to winning against Hiroki, but yet his cockiness preventing him from winning the match.

Hiroki looked up at Ulrich and shouted, "Yes! I won again! But wow, you really gave me a run for my money. Good game!"

"Good game," Ulrich stated distantly.

Yumi stared at Ulrich, growing concerned about him. Maybe he was still thinking about that night, hence why he seemed very competitive playing against Hiroki, even though it was only just a game.

Yumi's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by her mobile phone ringing. Ulrich and Hiroki averted their attention to her while she withdrew her mobile from her pocket. She pressed the green button and put the phone up to her ear without even looking at who called.

"Hello?"

"Hey Yumi," Jeremie's voice cheerily said.

"Hey. How are you?" Yumi asked.

"I'm great. Anyway, are your parents home?" Jeremie enquired.

"No, they went out shopping for groceries an hour ago. Why?"

"Can you come to the Factory right now?"

"Sure. I'll see you there soon."

"Bye."

Yumi pulled her mobile away from her ear and pressed the red button. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and stood up from her seat. Ulrich also stood up, sensing that he was going to go back to Kadic Academy. It was past three in the afternoon, and usually his parents would drop him off at four in the afternoon the day before school began.

"Who was it?" Hiroki enquired.

Taking a glance at Ulrich, Yumi responded, "It was Jeremie. He was getting worried about Ulrich. I think he usually gets back to Kadic at about two o'clock. So, he has to leave now."

"Awww. I was having so much fun with him," Hiroki groaned.

"Can you do a favour for me Hiroki?" Ulrich asked.

"What is it?"

"Tell your parents that I'm very, very grateful for their hospitality… and their kindness too. I know it isn't much to say but… I just don't know what else I can say to them," Ulrich replied.

"Don't sweat it Ulrich! My parents will understand what you mean," Hiroki reassured.

"Thanks," Ulrich said, feeling a little bit more confident, "Let's go Yumi."

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, Yumi and Ulrich were taking the elevator down to the Supercomputer Laboratory. Both of them remained silent during the trip down to the room, looking forward to see their friends again. But there was nothing much they could say to each other.<p>

They already planned how they would explain Ulrich's head injury, which was using his mother's excuse for it. It sounded like a very legitimate excuse, even though it didn't happen at all.

Soon, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened slowly in front of them. Once they were opened enough, Ulrich and Yumi walked through the doorway, waving to their friends. Jeremie, Aelita and Odd gasped in surprise that Ulrich was with Yumi, not expecting him to arrive with her at all. Jeremie jumped out of his seat to greet the two of them.

"Hey. It's great to see you both here," Jeremie declared.

"It's good to be here," Ulrich stated.

"What happened to your head Ulrich? Did you hurt yourself on something?" Aelita enquired.

"Actually it was pretty bad. I was walking around the block until some mongrels forced me into their car and made me poke my head out of it. My head was like a baseball bat hitting signs. Well, that was until one sign cut me near by temple. My mother witnessed most of it and called the ambulance and the police. I was lucky to be alive and those idiots were arrested," Ulrich lied.

"Ouch. How many stitches did you get?" Odd asked.

"Over a hundred at least," Ulrich answered.

"Wow, and the bandage is there to prevent the stitches from coming undone?"

"Yeah. It'll be fully healed in a week's time."

"Good, because that look doesn't look great on you," Aelita quipped.

"I'm aware of that," Ulrich responded.

"Hey guys," Jeremie called.

The group directed their attention to their Einstein, waiting for him to announce something big. However, Aelita felt that he only called for their attention because Ulrich's unexpected appearance stole what they're meant to be gathered here for.

"Sorry to interrupt and all, but there's big news regarding the multi-agent system," Jeremie announced.

"Well, what is it?" Yumi enquired.

"Franz Hopper has decided to help me with the project. He managed to find a place in the network where he's certain that XANA won't find him for a while," Jeremie replied.

"How did my father manage that?" Aelita questioned.

"I have no idea, but at least Franz Hopper is safe as long as you don't fall into the Digital Sea," Jeremie began, "Anyway, now since Franz Hopper is going to help me with the multi-agent program, it's cut the time of the project down drastically too."

"What do you mean by _drastically_?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, Franz Hopper just saved me eleven months of-" Jeremie began to answer.

"Eleven months! Do multi-agent programs really take that long to make?" Odd exclaimed.

"Since I'm creating several hundreds and thousands of agents, yes, it does take that long to make by yourself," Jeremie retorted.

"So, do you have an idea when it will be completed?" Yumi enquired.

"About a month, providing that I work on it constantly in my spare time. But, there's still a long way to go on it," Jeremie answered.

The group acknowledged Jeremie. It was a fantastic program Jeremie was working on, especially with the Skidbladnir recently destroyed, they could use something to annihilate the remaining hundred Replikas. Then they would have XANA right where they want him.

However, the program required tremendous work to be done. Aelita grew worried about Jeremie, knowing that he would spend many days and nights typing away at the program, without getting any substance and sleep. He would damage his health and when the time did come to activate the program, he could probably not fight against XANA.

But that worry subsided when she started speaking to her friends, especially towards Yumi, where she felt extremely happy to talk to another girl. It certainly made her feel better hearing what happened during her long weekend. Of course, Yumi didn't tell her that Ulrich slept over at her house last night, nor what happened to him.

After some time, Yumi looked at her watch, checking the time. She'd realised that she had been out from her home for half an hour, fifteen minutes too much.

"Alright, I have to go home now. My brother's going to get worried about me," Yumi announced and began walking away from her friends.

"Right. See you tomorrow Yumi," Jeremie responded.

"Say hi to Hiroki for me!" Odd shouted.

"I will!" Yumi yelled back as she pressed the button to open the elevator.

Ulrich ran across the room, calling out, "Wait!"

Yumi spun around, seeing Ulrich approach her quickly. He stopped immediately, not realising he was invading her personal space. He looked down at fingernails, scratching them before facing Yumi.

"Yumi, can you still not mention anything I told you about last night?" Ulrich asked.

"Of course. You held me to it," Yumi answered.

"Right, right. Um… I also want to thank you, for everything you've done for me," Ulrich replied nervously.

"You're welcome Ulrich. But next time… can you not stand too close to me. You're making a scene and it's kind of implying something is between us," Yumi retorted.

Ulrich took a step back from Yumi and reassured her, "There's nothing between us. We're just the best of friends, and that's all."

As he finished his sentence, the elevator doors opened up for Yumi. She entered the elevator, then spun around to face him. She pressed the button on the elevator to go up, and stared at Ulrich as the doors began to close.

"Look after yourself Ulrich. I'll see you tomorrow," Yumi stated.

Ulrich only waved in response, watching the elevator doors close in front of him. The first door soon trapped Yumi in the large elevator, making him sigh. He wished she could stay for longer.

"So, how did it go Casanova?" Odd enquired cheekily.

"I wasn't asking Yumi out, we were just talking," Ulrich maintained.

"_Talking?_ Yeah right," Odd retorted.

"Whatever I say, you're not going to believe me," Ulrich argued back.

"Guys, let's just head back. Dinner's going to be served in two hours and we all need to catch up," Aelita declared.

"Great idea! I'm going to tell Loverboy here about all the pranks we pulled off yesterday!" Odd exclaimed.

"Odd, I'm not in love!" Ulrich protested.

"Too late Ulrich. Once Odd's got something in mind, you'd have to convince him real good to prove your point," Jeremie responded.

Jeremie and Aelita laughed at Ulrich's misery, while Ulrich just grimaced, trying not to laugh at himself. At least, that helped him greatly to keep his mind off the negative things in his life. It also helped him keep the events of the whole weekend a big secret from the rest of his friends.

It brought Ulrich peace of mind that it was much easier protecting them by not feeding them any information, than revealing everything to them. Even though he hated to lie to them, he believed it was for a good cause. After all, if his father ever were to find out, they would be in huge danger.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Yumi looked back at the Factory. She was relieved that the fight against XANA could all be over in a month. She wouldn't have to sneak out of her parents' house or lie to them anymore just to fight off an ambitious A.I. She could return to her normal life.

However, Ulrich's story lingered on her mind. That devastating story of betrayal, hurt and mistrust still left Yumi shaken just by imagining his father's actions on both him and his mother. How could somebody control their family like this? How could they sleep at night not regretting a single thing they did?

Yumi began to regret keeping this story a secret. She felt the heavy burden of that night rest on her shoulders. Although she wasn't there, she was starting to feel the pain of it throughout her body. Even though she did tell her father this earlier, he just wasn't the right person to tell. She would rather hand this information to her friends, who had every right to know this.

But the threat of the normal life that she knew could be ruined if Ulrich's father ever were to find out. All of a sudden, she felt like she was trapped in an emotional prison. All thanks to a promise that also weighed heavily on her. This all began when she decided to save Ulrich's life.

Thanks to her actions, she was stuck in the middle. She didn't want this. She didn't want everything that Ulrich had been through. Little did she know, that this was going to be the least of her problems.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**s:** Wow, what a chapter! This time it was actually shorter than I expected, but it did have a lot in it.

A lot of events in this chapter have changed, especially earlier in the chapter. The biggest change was switching the flashback scene to this chapter from chapter three and Ulrich's frustration to chapter three from this chapter.

The changes happened because this was mainly a Yumi-centric chapter. After all, it's has been an all about Ulrich show until this point. The idea of this chapter was to show how events affect other people other than the direct victim. Yumi also is close to Ulrich, so she was the perfect character to take the attention away from Ulrich for a short while.

And the game that Ulrich and Hiroki were playing was Super Smash Bros. Melee. I was going to put in Brawl, but due to Code Lyoko being set between mid-2004 to early 2007 (As one of the Jeremie stated in 'A Lack of Goodwill' they fought XANA for two years and they had their Christmas holidays at the start of 'Distant Memory') and Super Smash Brawl being released in June 2008 in European countries, it wouldn't make sense to put Brawl in the story.

And that's Chapter 4. I hope you'd enjoyed it, and I hope you guys look forward to the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5: He Wants It All

_Well, I updated a few hours early, mainly because I had a great day and I want it to end on a high note! Also thanks to Annikyuu for clearing up the analogue clocks thing I was unsure about. Now, onto the story!_**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger doesn't make me satisfied until I get something back._

**Chapter 5: He Wants It All**

"_Ulrich! Please… Save me!"_

"_I'm trying… but… he's going to destroy me!"_

"_Please, otherwise he'll- No. Here's here. Ulrich, help me, please!"_

_The last thing he heard was a scream before he-_

-Sat up in his bed suddenly. He was covered in sweat, especially his palms and his forehead. And it wasn't even a hot night. He felt absolutely horrible, with his filthy sweat making him feel hot and weathered.

Ulrich took his singlet off and used it to wipe his arms. He had no need of it for the rest of the night. He was extremely hot and bothered to keep on wearing it. He laid back down in bed again, staring at the ceiling, hoping to just drift to sleep due to tiredness. He had been pushing himself for the past two days, by waking up early and going out at night in town. However, it was to no avail. He wasn't going back to sleep.

Ulrich sat up again, checking the time on their digital clock in the room. It read **0:15**, a quarter past midnight. He sat up, and looked over to his right. Odd was sleeping soundly, with his arm dangling over one side of the bed; there was definitely nothing that could wake him up. Boy, Ulrich wished he could sleep like that.

Then, Ulrich picked up a beeping sound from his satchel, which was hung around their desk chair. He stood up and walked over to his bag, quickly finding his mobile phone despite it being completely dark in his bag, let alone his room. He opened his silver mobile phone, seeing its very bright screen light up the room partially. A box stating, _1 Message Received_, covered his screensaver, appeared once Ulrich's eyes adjusted to the light.

_Who would be sending messages to me at this time of night?_ Ulrich questioned in his thoughts.

It was indeed suspicious to Ulrich, who never received a text message at this time of night, unless Odd was playing prank on him. But Odd was fast asleep. Then, his thoughts immediately went to the dream that woke him up from his peaceful sleep. What if that dream was telling him he would be receiving a text message from his mother soon, asking for his help? What if his father was making her suffer again?

Ulrich selected OK on his phone and it displayed the message for him. He was taken by surprise by the message, as it ended up being something completely unrelated to what he was thinking about.

_Meet me in S5. I am in need of ur assistance. An Ally._

_Jeremie?_ Ulrich questioned. He was perfectly aware Jeremie was still up, probably working on the multi-agent program. But he needed to go to Lyoko for it? And it required Ulrich's help?

As far as Ulrich was concerned, it was the perfect opportunity to get his mind off that incident. He quickly got dressed in a black t-shirt and grey tracksuit pants, grabbed his iPod and headed out of the room. And he wasn't too worried about getting caught by Jim, as he knew that he was probably in his room, sleeping like a baby.

* * *

><p>Ulrich reached the Supercomputer Lab in record time, as this time of night allowed him to not worry about anybody spotting his presence around the school. Like he expected, Jeremie was not in the room. He was probably on Lyoko, waiting for him.<p>

Ulrich ran to the Supercomputer, hoping Jeremie had set up a delayed virtualization he could start just by pushing a button. He looked at the screen, and grunted in frustration that he'd had to input the commands. Jeremie should've been a little bit kinder and made his life a lot easier just by doing that little favour for him.

The teenager stood directly in front of the Supercomputer, studying the keyboard, trying to remember from his crash course about making a delayed virtualization to the Mountain Sector of Lyoko. He did that before, when he accidentally confused it with finding the location of a Way Tower during a XANA attack.

As he retrieved the memory of typing the keys, he realised that the process could possibly be similar. All he had to do was change one word. First, Ulrich typed in _SC\Run_. Then the Supercomputer processed the information, and set Ulrich to a new line, looking like something his father was working on at home from work.

_SC:\__\Run__

Ulrich quickly typed in what he assumed to the correct sequence to activate a delayed virtualization to Sector 5. But quickly stopped himself from pressing the Enter key. He looked up to check if every character was right, as a single mistake could make it invalid.

_SC:\__\Run_Scanner_1Delayed_Virtualization\Carthage\PW:SCIPO_

He gingerly pressed down the Enter key, hoping that he was right. A timer appeared on screen, immediately ticking down. The timer confirmed that he was correct. He rushed to the ladder and began climbing down to the scanner room, as it was only a matter of time before the scanner doors closed.

He jumped off the third rung off the ground and sprinted to the scanner that was humming the loudest. He managed to enter the narrow doorway and spun around in the cylinder shaped transporter. Ulrich waited shortly until the scanner doors closed before him. He closed his eyes, relaxed, and was transferred over to a different world.

* * *

><p>Ulrich opened his eyes. With Lyoko eliminating fatigue, hunger and thirst, he felt ready to take on anything. He activated his Super Sprint and removed himself out of the celestial dome. Soon enough, he entered a large hallway, and scanned the room for Jeremie.<p>

_He should be here_, Ulrich thought, turning his head furiously in all sorts of directions. It didn't make any sense why Jeremie went anywhere else. Unless he was being attacked by XANA's monsters. However, the text message that was sent to Ulrich was too calm for Jeremie to be in danger.

The samurai picked up footsteps coming from behind. Ulrich spun around while drawing his blades from his backpack in one fluent motion. A man was caught in his sight. He was taller than Ulrich, with his short black hair standing out for the teenager. He wore a black trench coat over a purple shirt and black jeans. His appearance reminded him of William Dunbar, his rival and former possessed slave of XANA. However, there was no eye of XANA anywhere on this man's body. So, he could be trusted.

"Whoa! Careful where you point those things!" the man shouted.

Ulrich lowered his blades, staring at the man with a stoic expression. He didn't attack Ulrich, so he was friendly. He was _an ally_.

"Who are you?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm General Avikar of Franz Hopper's Army," Avikar introduced.

"_Franz Hopper's Army_? And since when did he have an army?" Ulrich questioned.

"Since Franz Hopper lost control of XANA, he created us to destroy his monsters," Avikar answered.

"Where were you all this time? You could've helped us in so many occasions," Ulrich demanded.

"We were significantly weakened by XANA as we tried to destroy him and protect Franz and Aelita Hopper. We number less than ten now, and if XANA found us, we would be annihilated," Avikar explained.

"Oh. So, were you protecting Jeremie? Is that why he texted me to come here?"

"God you are so dense," Avikar grumbled, "I was the one who sent you the message. And I'm glad you received it and came straight away."

"So why did you want me here?"

"Because your father is a corrupt man, and I want to ruin him."

Ulrich was flabbergasted. Somebody, completely unknown to his father, desired to bring him back down to Earth. Someone to let Hector Stern know that his power corrupted him. It was a huge opportunity for Ulrich, knowing he could take down his father soon.

However, Ulrich was wondering how did Avikar know about his father? And how did he know that his father was a power corrupted man? Avikar's knowledge scared Ulrich slightly, especially since his voice sounded so dark, determined and _dangerous_ when answering Ulrich's question.

"How did you know my father?" Ulrich demanded.

"Franz Hopper showed me himself. I assumed he hacked into his files at the research company he was working at," Avikar responded.

"Research company? Since when did my father work for a research company? He works at a bank," Ulrich retorted.

"Since the day you were born. That's what it said on his file."

"Is there any more information about this?"

"Well, the research company your father works for conducts unethical experiments on humans. It is a very secretive research company, hence why not even the government can expose and shame them. I only heard about this company from Franz Hopper, who refused to work for them because they were associated with the Men in Black."

"What? Are they connected to the Men in Black now?"

"Franz isn't certain, but they seem disconnected from each other now. Which is where you come in."

"Where I come in?"

"I've assigned a few of my allies over to your house. Basically, they're going to search the house for documents that could expose your father as a corrupt businessman. Which could lead to jail time for your father. What do you think, Ulrich? Would you like to help us navigate your home?"

Time froze for Ulrich. Presented with a huge opportunity, he only needed to say one word to be accepted into this special group. However, he began questioning this opportunity. He thought it was too good to be true, that it was too easy for him. Then again he had gone through some events in life the hard way, he couldn't see how there was an easy route out of the rut he was in.

However, Ulrich saw his father as a heartless _being_, believing he shouldn't be called human especially after the events of that night. His father expected him to get high grades that even surpassed his own expectations. His father doesn't know him well, barely spending any time with him to get to know him. And his father only really spoke to him when it was related to school, not his social life or big issues. As far as Ulrich was concerned, he wasn't a father at all.

Being part of the incident opened Ulrich's eyes to the harsh environment his mother lived in. Ulrich's father kept on pressing down his dominance on his mother in whatever vile way he could, either by beating her or engage in non-consensual sexual intercourse with her. Thinking about it suddenly brought up feelings of hatred. He hated how his father had gotten away with those actions. He hated how he could screw around with evidence and get away with it. And most especially, he hated how he wouldn't feel a shred of empathy when he performed those actions… on his own family. It had to stop.

"Yes," Ulrich answered, returning his thoughts back to reality, "My father has gotten away with too many things… especially around my mother!"

"You had a grudge against your father? I had no idea," Avikar stated, sounding slightly surprised.

"This is all to make my mother's life better. My father uses his power to oppress my mother at every opportunity. My mother deserves so much better than this, and that's why I have to fight for her, even if it means going up against my father," Ulrich proclaimed.

"Then, I take it you are ready? Once we set you as one of our commanders I have to devirtualize you from Lyoko so you can issue orders to my team, Chetan, Pascal and Blaise," Avikar warned.

"Of course I am! I can't wait to begin!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"Good. Now, keep in mind that my people cannot be transferred off Lyoko for too long, so you have to be quick. I'll talk to you soon."

Avikar punched through Ulrich's chest before he could say another word. He dispersed immediately, but kept his mission close in mind… Retrieve particular documents from their home to expose his father of the unethical treatment of humans.

He stepped out of the scanner, smirking in utmost satisfaction. He was finally getting revenge on his father. And what better way to do it than command a bunch of spectres to do his dirty work.

* * *

><p>Ulrich sat down on the seat in front of the Supercomputer and made himself comfortable. His mind was in a deep hole, thanks to a chain of events that happened ever since he failed protecting his mother.<p>

He buckled Jeremie's headset on, which was now used to communicate with his new allies. He smiled devilishly as he felt like he was in a position of power, since he was finally oppressing the thing that made him go on this rollercoaster ride in the first place.

"Commander Ulrich, are you ready?" Pascal enquired.

Pascal, Blaise and Chetan were at the foot of a large tree a few metres away from Ulrich's home. Despite being spectres of their Lyoko selves, they also brought along items used for breaking and entering to avoid waking their Commander's parents up.

"In a second, I just need to get the adrenaline pumping."

Ulrich put an earphone of his iPod in his left ear, and looked down on his iPod, scrolling through the list of his songs excitedly. He stopped and smirked, finding the song that would start things smoothly.

"Perfect."

He clicked the play button, and the song had begun. The sound of the lead guitar playing in the background was building up to the rest of the song, which was dark but yet addicting to Ulrich, as he was about to take in the perfect drug of revenge.

"Proceed."

Blaise unlocked the shut window from the outside, and opened it without a sound and stepped inside the Stern residence. She held up two fingers, with the palm facing towards her and then pointed to herself.

All of a sudden, Chetan and Pascal moved up the tree like a snake slivering upwards without making any noise. Once at the top of the tree, Pascal leaped and grabbed onto the windowsill. He pulled himself up effortlessly, and drew out a crowbar from his sheath. He used the bent end to hook itself underneath the locked window, and with all his might, pushed the crowbar down, forcing it to open. To his surprise it didn't make a loud racket.

"Commander, how should I retrieve the documents?"

Ulrich could sense the lyrics of the deadly melody that was about to start, but he was already under its industrial spell.

**_I've got my head but my head is unravelling…_**

"Levitate over to wardrobe, but don't wake my parents."

"Got it."

Pascal, thanks to his Lyoko powers, defied gravity and swam through the air easily, over his Commander's parents', sleeping soundly in their luxurious bed.

"Commander, what should I do here?"

**_Can't keep control, can't keep track of where it's travelling…_**

"Trash the place without making a sound, and find anything that looks important."

Blaise acknowledged her leader, and started to tear through the bookcase in the living room. She threw the books on the floor, one by one, not caring where or how they have landed.

Chetan was rather shocked of how Ulrich could change so much thanks to his ambition for revenge against his father. However Chetan had the right to ask his boss why he needed to go to this sort of length.

"Commander, you only know for certain that your father had his documents in his bedroom. It's just wasting time that Blaise is searching for it in the living room."

**_I've got my heart but my heart's no good…_**

"He deserves it! I'll be satisfied enough even if we don't find anything here! You do the same to my bedroom!"

"But Commander, this is your home-"

"No it isn't! My home is in Kadic Academy! Now stop hesitating and start trashing it!"

"Remember Chetan," Avikar started, "I put Ulrich in charge, because this mission is beneficial to both parties, so please obey him."

**_But you're the only one that's understood…_**

"Fine, General."

Chetan propelled himself, and retracted out his cat-like paws, stabbing the wall and kept him hanging there. He extended his right arm closer to Ulrich's bedroom window and let go of the wall with his left hand. As he was flying through the air at the highest point, Chetan pushed the bricks with his left hand, which detached his right hand from it. He fell, but landed on the windowsill with such balance that was physically impossible by a normal human being.

Chetan dug his claws under the windowsill and lifted it open. He jumped into Ulrich's room and marked the door with a slash.

Ulrich smirked hearing the door being ripped into. It was like more of that dangerous drug he was taking, but it was barely fulfilling his lust.

**_I come along but I don't know where you're taking me…_**

"Commander! I just looked through the bookcase, and there was nothing there. What-"

"Destroy the room."

"But that's completely unnecessary!"

"Just do it God damn it!"

**_I shouldn't go but you're reaching, dragging, shaking me…_**

Blaise obeyed right away, even though she knew it was the wrong thing to do. She tore the cushions of the couch, fluff and feathers were flying everywhere around the room.

"You're almost as heartless as your father, Ulrich," Avikar complimented.

"Hmph, he deserved it after what he did to me. I hope he doesn't get to see the light of day after this."

**_Turn off the sun, pull the stars from the sky…_**

"Don't you realise you're eroding precious seconds away… to me?"

"Avikar! You put me in charge! So this is my revenge!"

Although, what Ulrich didn't know was he was clouding his vision from the truth, and the more he had stated that this was his revenge, the more it feeds Avikar's plan.

**_The more I give to you, the more I die!_**

Ulrich sat back in his seat, panting out his frustration. But he wanted to feel more of that substance of power. He sat up again, tightening his fingers at the front of the chair.

**_And I want you…_**

Ulrich then relaxed his muscles, and switched to hear how Blaise was going. The sound of glasses being smashed and the music in the background was soothing to Ulrich as he felt like he had tasted revenge.

**_And I want you…_**

Ulrich absent-mindly changed the channel to hear what was going on, on Chetan's end. He could hear the rough scratching objects being completely obliterated into a million pieces, with the drums from his music adding an extra effect on Chetan's attacks.

**_And I want you…_**

In the meantime, Pascal was searching through the wardrobe, moving the clothing and other items aside quietly. Then he spotted something that caught his eye. He picked up a box filled with yellow folders and took a gander at the name of the documents.

**HECTOR STERN:**

**CONFIDENTIAL FILES**

**_And I want you!_**

"Commander… I've found them. And there looks like there is a lot in there, maybe even all of them inside this vicinity," Pascal announced.

Ulrich smirked and replied, "Thank you Pascal. It looks like our objective has been fulfilled and we have no more reason to be here."

"But Commander… What Blaise and I did appears to be a waste-"

"No it isn't. I just call it my parting gift. Now you better get out of there before my parents wake up and find you here."

Chetan looked back on the carnage he had created in his leader's own bedroom with a feeling of remorse and worthlessness. He had completely torn Ulrich's bed sheets, his claw marks were etched into the wall and door and the carpet was all ripped up. He slowly slipped out from the scene, using his cat-like reflexes to grab onto the tree.

Blaise did not stop to reflect on the damage she had done, and she jumped out of the window with no regrets.

Blaise looked up, and noticed that Pascal was already outside the Stern residence. He hovered onto a tree, grabbing its thick branches, as his hovering ability didn't last forever.

"Pascal, drop the box into my arms. It looks like it could break at any moment up there," Blaise ordered.

"Alright, catch," Pascal groaned.

Blaise ran up and spun around with her back against the trees, catching the box in one swift motion.

"Let's get out of here before we get spotted," Blaise whispered.

"Guys, do you stop and think for a second of what we have done?" Chetan demanded.

"No, there is no time to. We have to spilt before we-"

"I believe we're not thinking for ourselves, but we're doing all the dirty work for the people in power, and especially to that _boy_ who wrongly obtained it!"

"He did not!-"

"Hush Pascal, I'll lay it down to Chetan," Blaise reassured, "General Avikar knew there was something special within Commander Ulrich. He knows that with Commander Ulrich's determination and stubbornness, we can finally defeat XANA."

"XANA? Since when did he-"

But Chetan never finished his sentence… he was no longer alive. Pascal dropped from the tree, retrieving his crowbar from Chetan's head.

"Well, that shut him up," Pascal stated.

"Shut who up?" Ulrich enquired.

"Where were you just before we killed Chetan?" Blaise asked back.

"Oh, you two killed Chetan? Good, I was starting to get worried about him. Anyway, I was talking to Avikar about Chetan, but it looks like I don't need to think about him any more."

"You two wanted him dead?" Pascal asked.

"Yeah, we thought he would betray us. Anyway, hurry up. I have a feeling my parents would be awake by now."

"Yes commander."

Pascal and Blaise sprinted off into the darkness, and traced their steps back to the Factory. The dead body they left behind soon vaporised into thin air, where no evidence of anyone getting killed for their own beliefs, after all, they were only computerized spectres carrying out their mission for a person who had completely lost himself to his own lust to make himself feel more powerful for what had happened to him in the past.

* * *

><p>Ulrich heard the elevator doors click open, and smiled when he saw Pascal and Blaise walking towards him, with Blaise holding the box with his father's documents in them.<p>

Blaise approached him, and passed the box to him saying in concern, "I hope this isn't too heavy for you."

"No, it's actually quite light. Thank you for retrieving this for me," Ulrich reassured Blaise's worries.

"No problem Commander, we'll be ready to serve if the General allows you to lead us," Pascal said.

"Thanks… You guys should go back before XANA picks you up on Earth."

Both the spectres nodded, and took the ladder down to the scanner room. Ulrich was proud of their work, and hoped that he could work together with them again, even though he almost lost it.

"Ulrich," Avikar called.

Ulrich had completely forgotten he was still wearing the headset, but he was glad Avikar had contacted him again. After all, he did wonder when was the next time he would see the general.

"Your comrades are coming back. I'm starting up a delayed virtualization to Sector 5 so they can return immediately while we talk," Ulrich replied.

"Thank you Ulrich, I'm glad you do show compassion to my companions."

Ulrich placed the box down and typed up the sequence to the delayed virtualization to Sector 5, and responded, "Well, they did help me, so why not help them back?"

"Good point, my young friend. And I must say… you were very impressive in controlling my teammates in getting what you want."

"I hate to admit it, but my father told me using an aggressive voice will certainly work for those who are supposed to obey you."

"Your father has a good point for once. Anyway… I can also guarantee that whatever happened in the Factory never happened at all."

"That's good. Jeremie would kill me if he found out I was on the Supercomputer at this hour. How will that happen anyway?"

"I could simply replace the recordings of what the cameras see with a fake image of the room you're in untouched. Happy?"

"Of course. Avikar, I believe there might be more documents-"

"We'll investigate the places that have them and ask you to come in a night's time."

"So it's not tomorrow night, but the night afterwards, if that's what you mean?"

"Yes Ulrich, exactly what I mean. Goodnight, and I look forward to our next meeting."

"Me too Avikar. You better rest also."

Ulrich placed the headset down near on keyboard, hoping Jeremie wouldn't notice that it has been on somebody else's head in the past twenty four hours. He jumped out of the seat, and walked towards the elevator, feeling safe and secure that his nocturnal activities won't be found out.

* * *

><p>The first thing Jeremie heard in the morning was his ring tone going off. Jeremie groaned, having finally gotten some much needed rest he hated to be woken up like that. Jeremie grabbed his glasses from the desk and put them on, making sure they rest on his nose comfortably.<p>

He quickly grabbed his phone and answered the call, hoping he wasn't too late to answer it.

"Jeremie, get the others up. You won't believe what's on the news!" Yumi exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Jeremie questioned.

"A news update came on since it's coming on pretty soon, and Ulrich's Dad was on it," Yumi responded.

Jeremie was stunned to silence for a short while, then replied, "We'll check it out. See you later."

Jeremie hung up on Yumi, and sprinted out of his room. He entered Odd and Ulrich's room, yelling at them in panic like he would if a XANA attack occurred. Both the boys grumbled, slowly waking up as Jeremie rushed out of their room to wake up Aelita. Odd pulled himself out of bed first, running a hand down his face to wake himself up. Ulrich soon followed suit, impressed that he could wake up at this time of morning after only five hours of sleep.

Odd looked over at Ulrich, who still was lying in bed. He grew slightly worried for his roommate, knowing that Ulrich usually gets out of bed before he does. Ulrich soon sat up, staring at Odd, wondering what he was worried about.

Meanwhile, Jeremie reached Aelita's room, knocking on her door. He was more respectful around Aelita, knowing that she wouldn't like being woken up by a racket. It took two minutes for Aelita to open the door, where she gazed at Jeremie sheepishly. Jeremie immediately told her what was going on, and to not care about getting changed out of her pyjamas.

As they walked towards the flight of stairs, Ulrich and Odd joined them. Together, they rushed down the stairways to hopefully make it to the Rec Room in time to watch the news. Fortunately, when they went outside there was no one to see that they were still in their pyjamas. They opened the door to the Rec Room, with Odd moving ahead of them to grab the remote.

Odd leaped over the couch and grabbed the remote off the small table and turned the T.V. on. The rest of the group sat themselves down on the couches, paying close attention to the T.V. Luckily; the news program just went to air.

"Breaking news, the house of a senior employee of BNP Paribas has been completely destroyed from the inside. The mysterious attack left behind no evidence of the intruders, leaving authorities baffled. The employee, Hector Stern is completely devastated and extremely frustrated. Here's a word from him," the reporter announced.

The camera switched quickly to Hector Stern. And Ulrich could tell he looked like he wanted to kill the person who did all of this to the house he invested in. That glare was all too similar to the look he had on that night.

"Whoever did this, has planned this attack very thoroughly. However, with the rest of my colleges and the law, we will find whoever did this monstrous act. Mark my words," Hector declared in frustration.

The camera switched back to the newsroom, with the news looking very calm and composed as always, like a professional.

"We couldn't get a word from his wife, Danielle Stern, as she was too distressed to speak. We'll keep you updated for any progress in finding who the attackers were," the reporter stated.

Odd immediately turned the T.V. off with a press of a button. He was stunned like Jeremie and Aelita, shocked that somebody would do this to his roommate's home. Even though no pictures were shown of what damage had been done inside the house, they could imagine something like earthquake damage or a tornado went through the house.

They glanced at Ulrich, wondering what he would be feeling at this moment. They all thought that he would be devastated, and that he wished he was with his parents to support them, despite how much he hated his father. And considering that this continued the string of unfortunate events happening to Ulrich, with his head injury and all, that they needed to support him through this difficult time.

The dramatic irony was that Ulrich was not injured by a bunch of strangers who wanted to play human baseball, and he knew the attack on his house would happen. Ulrich was severely wounded by his father three nights ago, which lead to Ulrich seeking revenge against his father by destroying their house. But his revenge wasn't going to end there.

In order to make his mother's life better, he had to take it all the way. That meant more nocturnal commotion in the places his father often went to, including his workplace, to find enough evidence to press charges against his father for unethical treatment of humans. It was ambitious to pull off, but once Ulrich had something in mind, nothing was going to stop him from achieving that.

He did feel sorry for his mother though, who was the true victim in this incident. He would never mean to hurt his mother, but his father also lived in that house. He knew eventually, after all of this was over, that the quality of his mother's life would be so much better with his father in jail.

However, to hide what he was doing, he looked down at the ground, not shifting his vision up. Although he did feel sympathy for his mother, he felt no regret for his father. And he couldn't wait for tomorrow night, where he could cause more damage to his father's squeaky clean reputation.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**s: **The computer sequence is similar to how I observe my father using the 'Run' program to fix computers over the years. I'm not sure whether that would be realistic to how to run the scanners to get to Lyoko, but it sounds reasonable to me.

Ulrich also accidently activated a delayed virtualization while talking to Aelita over the phone in the episode Crash Course, when he discovered _Big Fat Cheese Head_ was Jeremie and Aelita's code for a delayed virtualization. Hence why I could believe he could activate one again, except on purpose.

The song Ulrich was playing on his iPod was _The Perfect Drug_ by Nine Inch Nails. It describes what was happening during the story perfectly, plus the drumbeats and guitar really darken the mood of the song and the story.

BNP Paribas is the largest bank in France, and I noticed it was sponsoring the French Open (Tennis Tournament) this year. Since Ulrich's father has implied he was wealthy in Final Round, I'm assuming he worked in a bank.

Well, I hoped you liked this chapter enough to review it and wish to see me update this soon :)


	6. Chapter 6: I'll Do Anything For You

_Yes... I uploaded a little bit early again. That's because it was my last day working at my Dad's Child Care Centre for now. On with the story!_

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger makes me submit if the employer gives me what I truly desire._

**Chapter 6: I'll Do Anything For You**

A long day had passed since the news report. The news spread quickly around campus, as day students who watched the report told their boarding friends about Ulrich Stern's house being mysteriously destroyed. All day, Ulrich and his group of friends were hounded by the other schoolkids, asking them questions of the incident. Ulrich wanted to answer them to shut down any accusations, but his friends were quick to state that Ulrich needed to be left to recover.

However, there were those who constantly pestered the group. They were Ulrich's obsessed fangirl, Sissi Delmas with her cronies, Nicholas and Herve and the Kadic News Team, Milly and Tamiya. They were annoying in their own ways. Sissi tried to worm her way into the group to get close to Ulrich. Fortunately, the group denied her access to Ulrich, especially Yumi, who kept an eye on Sissi when she was just in the area. And believe it or not, the Kadic Paparazzi were more difficult to remove than Sissi.

Armed with a tape recorder and a camera, they would ambush the group, rushing towards their target, Ulrich Stern. Being stronger than Sissi Delmas combined and both shorter than her, they could duck, weave and squeeze through Ulrich's friends. When they did reach him, they would begin to use their weapons. Tamiya always made sure that the camera was always recording, and Milly shoved the tape recorder in Ulrich's face and began asking questions.

Ulrich's response every time was 'I'm still trying to take this in. Just leave me alone until I can come up with an answer.' But after several times, the group decided to hang out in the dorm rooms, as they were sick of getting hounded by the young news reporters and other kids. Mr. Delmas allowed this, understanding that Ulrich needed the support of his close friends only during the difficult time.

When Ulrich went to bed that night, he only remembered how he felt about the day. He hated the attention he received from everyone about this, especially since he knew the entire story of what happened behind the scenes. He was behind it, he didn't feel much remorse and he wanted to do it secretly. Then again, it wasn't his fault that his father was significant employee of France's largest bank.

However, some of the remorse began to kick in once he thought of his mother. Wondering how she'd cope living in a house that was turned upside down, Ulrich placed himself in her shoes. He could see her walking around the house, avoiding the broken glass and the mess on the floor. Then, he imagined her picking up a book and shedding a tear.

Ulrich sighed, wishing that he could avoid his mother during the conflict between him and his father. But there was no good time for Avikar to assist him other than the night, so he had to do it. After all, there were always innocent victims in conflicts.

"Ulrich! Wake up! We're going to be late for breakfast!" Odd exclaimed.

Ulrich groaned and shuffled in his bed. He opened his eyes, looking up at Odd, who was completely dressed and ready for the day. Since Odd had to wait for Ulrich due to the attention that was on him now, Ulrich could see that Odd was growing impatient.

"Is something wrong with you buddy?" Odd enquired.

Ulrich sat up and answered, "No."

"Look, maybe you should have some days off," Odd suggested.

"I can't do that. What if XANA attacks?" Ulrich questioned.

"I'm sure we can take XANA without your help for one or two XANA attacks. Don't worry about it too much," Odd stated.

Ulrich sighed, and ignored what Odd said. He still had that guilty feeling inside from thinking about his mother. The only good he did to her was to prevent her to be beaten senselessly by his father for a couple of days due to the media attention on them. At least, he hoped that cleared up his conscious slightly compared to his involvement in destroying the home's interior.

The fourteen year old brought his legs over the side of the bed with his thoughts sorted out. He couldn't go back. He couldn't go back to the life he knew before he agreed to do the operation with Avikar. Too much damage had been done, and he was just forced to go with it.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>After classes were over for the day, Ulrich returned to his dorm room alone. He was glad he had some time to himself considering he didn't have any for the past day. Entering his dorm room, Ulrich was met with beautiful silence. He closed the door behind him straight away, absorbing all of it in.<p>

The teenager sat on the desk chair, looking out the window. He had a nice view of the forest, where he would spend most of his alone time there. It was made tranquil by the silence in the room and the wonderful sight it was from the room.

However, he didn't intend to spend his time by admiring the view. He opened his satchel and pulled out a yellow folder. Reading that it belonged to his father, Hector Stern, with the big bold word stating it was 'confidential', Ulrich smirked and opened it.

He was met with a full report it seems. On what, Ulrich had no clue on, but suspected it was to do with the experiments he was a part of. Ulrich grew curious about what these experiments were all about, and how his father crossed the line between ethical and unethical.

Just as he turned the page, Odd barged into the room. Ulrich quickly shut the folder and flipped it to the other side, so it wasn't revealed he was reading a document of his father's. He couldn't allow Odd to find out what he was doing or it could easily jeopardise his mission and Odd's life.

"Hey Ulrich, do you want to play foosball with me? It'll make you feel better," Odd asked.

"No, I'm fine thanks," Ulrich responded.

"Really? C'mon, you always play foosball when you're down," Odd retorted.

"And I said no," Ulrich snapped, and spun around suddenly, "What part of that do you not understand? Now just leave me alone!"

"Fine, be that way," Odd stated, and slammed the door behind him.

Ulrich sighed in relief, glad he was able to get Odd out of the room and hide that he was reading his father's confidential documents. Even if it meant turning down a game of foosball, which Ulrich was in no mood to play, he could spend more time going through the document to find the paragraph that would ruin his father.

Outside the room, Odd looked back at the room, wondering what on Earth was on Ulrich's mind to flat out reject a game of foosball. Usually, Ulrich would either accept the offer right away or think about it and state his answer. But Ulrich had no hesitation to avoid playing foosball with Odd. Odd tried to find a reason for him not playing foosball, deliberating between 'not in the mood' or 'needing some time alone'. But none seemed to make sense, especially since Ulrich didn't provide a reason behind his answer.

Ulrich's roommate was growing incredibly suspicious, but knew he wouldn't be allowed in the room for some time. With Jeremie and Aelita working on the multi-agent program in the library and Yumi just heading home, it seemed like Odd couldn't turn to anyone. However, an idea struck him. He sprinted down the stairs, hoping that his thought would work out.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, Odd had arrived in the Factory's Supercomputer Laboratory. Odd had never been to the Factory alone, having always hung out with his friends and bringing a <em>special girl<em> in here once. He felt small in the large room, spotting the large holomap in the centre of the room and looking up to see how high the ceiling was as he approached the Supercomputer.

Odd took a seat in Jeremie's comfy chair and stretched his fingers. He was going to do a lot of typing, that's for sure. But to his surprise, a chatting window appeared on screen. Odd grew curious of who the initiator of the conversation was. But he quickly realised it was none other than…

_Franz Hopper._

With his message, _'Hello Jeremie'_, on screen, Odd was confounded. Should he respond? Would he be interrupting Franz? Could he explain what's going on with Ulrich? Either way, Odd's curiosity got the best of him, and he began typing his response.

'_It's Odd. You got the wrong blonde. I don't blame you though.'_

Franz responded immediately, giving no time for Odd to think about his response. Odd assumed that Franz was giving his full attention to him.

'_Hello Odd. Why are you here?'_

'_I'm worried about Ulrich. His house was recently destroyed from the inside. But he rejected a game of foosball right away. He doesn't do that, especially during a difficult time.'_

'_This could explain why.'_

Franz then sent a file to Odd through the chat box. It was a video file, which Odd found strange, considering he's probably only seen pictures of Ulrich before, not a video recording. Odd opened the video file, and watched it carefully.

Ulrich entered the Factory and immediately leaped to the rope. He slowly went down the length, hitting the ground running. He then rushed towards the elevator and pressed the button. He entered the elevator as soon as its doors opened and stepped inside it. When the elevator doors closed, the video ended.

Odd was shocked. At first he denied the evidence he saw, believing that Ulrich did not enter the Factory except when he came back from his parents two days ago. But once he looked at the date of the video, he realised it was the day after… but it was at around midnight on that day. And he was certain that the time wouldn't be wrong, especially on a Supercomputer made by a genius.

'_Odd?'_

The boy noticed that Franz spoke to him again. However, he found it difficult to believe what he just saw. Why would his friend be going to the Factory again within the space of eight hours?

'_Sorry. I just find it hard to believe.'_

'_I'm sorry Odd, but the camera doesn't lie. Neither does the date or the time.'_

'_But why did it cut off when he took the elevator?'_

'_I think somebody tampered the recording.'_

'_How?'_

'_I have no idea, but I am concerned Odd. I'm glad you came, because I don't think that would be Ulrich's last suspicious sighting at the Factory.'_

'_What do you mean?'_

'_We need to figure out why Ulrich's in the Factory. It would explain why the recordings are being tampered.'_

'_What do you want me to do?'_

'_Just come here tomorrow. I'll secretly record the audio and the visual information from where I'm staying, and I'll send the data.'_

'_Thanks Franz. I'll head off now. Good luck.'_

'_Thanks, you too.'_

Odd closed the window and jumped off the computer chair. He felt a lot better knowing that Franz was taking care of things for him. However, he was also worried about what Ulrich was up to. There was no clue from the clip he saw what his intentions were.

Little did he know that Franz was going to uncover something that would turn the world as they knew it upside down.

* * *

><p>Late at night, Ulrich arrived in the Supercomputer Lab. He remained emotionless as he possibly could, knowing he was going to commit another crime for the sake of putting his father behind bars. It was amazing how he could keep a straight face around his friends, while inside his emotions were chaotic and thrashing about. He wondered how long he could keep this up before it all suddenly gushed out.<p>

He spoke to Avikar briefly before once again, commanding Pascal and Blaise to break into his father's workplace and find more documents pertaining to his father's unethical work during the experiments. Ulrich executed his orders without any hesitation, despite having second thoughts. He was stunned just how he could ignore his morals and use Blaise and Pascal as his pawns that would do anything he says.

But this was all for a good cause, Ulrich kept on telling himself. He could use his hate against his father indirectly to save his mother. He just had to keep on picturing the end result instead of thinking of the means of how he got to that happy ending.

The mission was successful, and the two spectres gave Ulrich the documents they retrieved from his father's office. Once the delivery was made, Pascal and Blaise returned to Lyoko to join their resistance group once again.

Ulrich placed the box of documents next to the chair, waiting for Avikar to say something. It was painful having to wait after doing that sort of work, but he remained patient, hoping it would pay off in the end. When five minutes passed by however, Ulrich grew annoyed. Tapping his fingers frantically on the arms of the chair didn't kill enough time. He had to speak to get Avikar's attention, even if it could potientially cost him a chance at saving his mother.

"Avikar… It's me, Ulrich here. Can you hear me?" Ulrich enquired.

Almost immediately, Avikar responded, "Loud and clear, my friend."

"I'm just wondering why you didn't speak to me straight after we completed the mission," Ulrich stated.

"I just found out something about your father. When Blaise hacked your father's computer she found the address of a building of some significant which could be connected to the experiment. Which could lead to finding out what illegal activities have been done to the participants," Avikar explained.

"Did she find out who the participants were?" Ulrich asked.

"It's not 'who', it's 'how' they were treated," Avikar argued.

"Why is it what they did to them more important than who they were?" Ulrich demanded.

"If we want to prove your father guilty, it's how that they were treated during the experiment that would matter most," Avikar answered.

"It's not just that. It's how the experiment affected their lives that's significant. After all these people would be living with this… burden that they wished they could get off their shoulders!" Ulrich retorted angrily.

"Ulrich… You're one selfish asshole. You only care for yourself!"

"Since when did caring for others become a selfish act?"

"Because we are working together to bring down your father, boy! You can't let yourself go off the rails; otherwise you'll never be free from your father's grasp! Do you want that?"

"No, but I believe that we're heading in the wrong direc-"

"We can't go back now. Especially after you destroyed the interior of your home. Isn't that right, Ulrich?"

Ulrich felt hot under the collar. That was true. Without any second thoughts, he did order that action out of hate of his father. And he was beginning to regret it because of the harm that was caused to his mother. But he couldn't deny it.

"Yes."

"And you don't regret making that decision, mainly because you know that in the end, you're going to put your father behind bars?"

Ulrich gulped. Another difficult question to answer. He did regret his action, but saying no as an answer could cost him support from Avikar and his allies, the only physical help he had to destroy his father's standing.

"Y-Yes," Ulrich answered in a stammer.

"And I assume your friends don't even know this thing that you're doing. That what you're doing is against the law as well, but you know it's all for the good of those people, because you are protecting them from your father, don't you?" Avikar questioned.

The samurai was shot into silence. Avikar was completely right. Protecting his friends was one of two things on the top of his priorities. He assumed that Avikar knew that he was also fighting for a good cause; after all, they were both fighting against XANA.

"Yeah. I have to protect my friends, no matter what happens to me, they can't get involved in this. Otherwise their lives will be endangered," Ulrich responded.

"The decision you made with me three days ago had forged you a new path from which you cannot stray. You've become the very thing you want to be… Powerful, and only caring to the actions that have affected these poor people. Isn't that right?" Avikar enquired.

"Yes Avikar. You have made me powerful to help me get revenge on my father. And I… I don't know what other path I can rely on to finally ruin him. Please… Command me as one of your own. Your direction can set me a path for which I can follow, and so I can get what I truly desire," Ulrich pleaded.

"So you want all of this power, but in order to get it, you're submitting yourself to me?" Avikar asked.

"Yes, I'll do whatever it takes to ruin my father. I just don't want my mother or my friends to get hurt," Ulrich replied.

"Then I'll happy to take you up on your offer."

"Thank you, you'll be grateful for my assistance."

"Good, I'll text you next time I want to see you. For now, I'll see you next time we meet."

"See you later."

Avikar disappeared from the screen, leaving Ulrich basking in the silence. There was nothing going through his mind, a strange feeling, considering what he's been through. He took off the headset and placed it carefully on the keyboard. Suddenly, he could feel the sweat trailing down his face. He brushed through his hair, realising it was covered in sweat. How did he not notice this before? Either way, he began to feel horrible.

Ulrich hopped off the computer chair, and grabbed his black jacket that he hung on the back of the chair. He zipped it up over his singlet, removing the coldness he felt. Then he picked up the box of documents and walked towards the elevator, remaining emotionless as he could possibly be.

* * *

><p>Lunchtime, the next day, the group apart from Odd were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria. Everybody found Odd's absence from the cafeteria incredibly strange, knowing how much he loved to eat and how much he ate in particular. Plus he was the most social person of the group too, so the racket from their table was significantly cut down.<p>

Although, Ulrich didn't mind Odd's disappearance. He saw him for almost every hour of every day, so it was nice to get away from him for some time. However, he was wondering where Odd was. But every time Yumi called him he didn't pick up.

"It would be nice if he said something," Yumi growled in frustration, after calling him for the fifth time.

"I'm sure he's out with a girlfriend to lunch. We shouldn't worry about him too much," Jeremie stated calmly.

"Yeah. Although, if he heard it was spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, then he probably would've skipped his meeting with his girlfriend," Aelita mentioned.

Ulrich chuckled at the thought as he ate the last of his lunch. That would be true if that was the case. However, he wanted to go back to the Factory after what happened last night. He needed to confront Avikar about accusing him of not caring for a person. His head wasn't all there during the discussion, and he'd wished he could take those words back, especially that pledge.

"I'll go out and look for him," Ulrich lied, getting out of his seat.

"Good idea. Call us if you find him," Yumi responded.

Ulrich smiled and walked past the table. He was going to 'look' in the forest first, where he would be able to access the Factory without his friends' knowledge. He exited the cafeteria, looking like he was in a hurry to find Odd.

Just as Ulrich left the cafeteria, Yumi's phone rang. She answered it almost immediately, hoping it was Odd on the other end of the call.

"Hey Yumi," Odd said.

"I've been trying to contact you for ten minutes now. What have you been doing?" Yumi demanded.

"I was at the Factory," Odd answered.

"Why are you there?" Yumi questioned.

"Franz Hopper gave me a file and recommended me to view it with you guys right now," Odd responded.

"Alright, I'll call Ulrich up-" Yumi began to speak.

"No. Ulrich isn't invited to this meeting. In fact, the files on this disk is about him," Odd interrupted.

"What do you mean by that?" Yumi asked.

"You'll find out soon enough. I'm in the forest right now. Try to distract Ulrich with something else to do if he's interested," Odd suggested.

"Actually, he went out looking for you, so you better think on your toes," Yumi retorted.

"Alright. I'll see you soon."

Odd hung up and sprinted. He was in the forest and he needed to reach Jeremie's room before being spotted by Ulrich. He didn't mind getting seen by Ulrich, but he would get there quicker if he didn't have to come up with an excuse. He went down the fastest route to the school which he knew of.

However, he was coincidently running down the same path as Ulrich, and they both saw each other. They slowed down their run and approached each other casually, yet it felt extremely awkward for Odd to run into him like this.

"Hey Ulrich, what are you up to?" Odd asked.

"I just need some time alone. I was just thinking about the inside of my house being destroyed again and I need to escape from it. I'll catch you later," Ulrich responded.

Ulrich ran deeper into the forest while Odd was watching him. Once Ulrich was out of his sight, Odd turned around and walked at a quick pace to the school. However, he suddenly realised that Ulrich just lied to him, and his friends too.

Odd remembered that Yumi said that Ulrich was _searching for him_, while Ulrich told him something completely different. Ulrich was getting shadier by each moment. Odd couldn't wait to hear the contents on that CD he was carrying.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**s:** Jeremie (and Aelita) have communicated to Franz Hopper through an instant messaging system on the show (shown in Distant Memory in particular). I believe that's Franz's main form of communication with the group, due to avoid being found by XANA. So anything with these talking marks ('') and that are in italics mean they are speaking via instant messaging device.

Foosball is the more formal name for Table Soccer, which is a pretty fun game. Not to mention how many times Ulrich and Odd have played it throughout Season 4 in the Rec Room.

And on that cliffhanger, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7: Black as Your Soul

_Well, I've got huge news for you guys. First of all, this story has reached over 1,000 hits, which is a huge achievement in itself. Second of all, I have beaten my old review record of 20 reviews, another great achievement__, as you can see the review count is 29 reviews. So, let's hope for many more reviews! Finally, this is my favourite chapter of Pretty Hate Machine for five reasons; so, let's get on with the chapter!_

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger transforms me into something incredible__._

**Chapter 7: Black as Your Soul**

Soon, Odd flung open Jeremie's door with a bang, which caught the attention of all the friends that he had called into the room. He wasn't surprised that they were already there, waiting for him to arrive.

"Well, you certainly want to make your presence known," Yumi stated.

"Yeah, anyway, I got the disk right here, with all of Ulrich's activities in the Factory from last night," Odd responded proudly.

"Well, would you like to share that information after you closed the door?" Jeremie asked.

Odd closed the door behind him, replying, "Of course, Einstein."

Odd walked up to Jeremie, opening the CD case and pulling out the CD carefully. He gave the CD to Jeremie and sat down on Jeremie's bed next to Aelita. Jeremie put the CD into the open disk drive of his computer, and gently pushed it so his computer can process it.

"Odd, why did you try these files about Ulrich?" Aelita enquired.

"Well, he turned down a game of foosball to read documents. Doesn't that sound very weird?" Odd asked.

"Yeah, it does. I just hope he hasn't put himself in a lot of danger," Yumi responded.

"Yeah. I don't know the details of the information, but Franz told me to watch it with you guys."

"How come?" Aelita asked.

"He found it hard to cope with the information."

"That gives me a bad feeling that we're going to hear something we don't like," Jeremie declared.

Suddenly, the files appeared on the screen, waiting for Jeremie to select that one piece of information that would lead the group into a huge revelation. Jeremie clicked on the file that had Ulrich's name on it, and turned the volume up slightly on his computer. Jeremie was the only person in the room, it appeared, to brace himself for what he was about to hear.

"_Avikar… It's me,__ Ulrich here. Can you hear me?"_

"_Loud and clear, my friend."_

"_I'm just wondering why you didn't speak to me straight after we completed the mission."_

"_I just found out something about your father. When Blaise hacked your father's computer she found the address of a building of some significance which could be connected to the experiment. Which could lead to finding out what illegal activities have been done to the participants."_

"_Did she find out who the participants were?"_

"_It's not 'who', it's 'how' they were treated."_

"_Why is it what they did to them more important than who they were?"_

"_If we want to prove your father guilty, it's how that they were treated during the experiment that would matter most."_

"_It's not just that. It's how the experiment affected their lives that's significant. After all these people would be living with this… burden that they wished they could get off their shoulders!"_

"_Ulrich… You're one selfish asshole. You only care for yourself!"_

"_Since when did caring for others become a selfish act?"_

"_Because we are working together to bring down your father, boy! You can't let yourself go off the rails; otherwise you'll never be free from your father's grasp! Do you want that?"_

"_No, but I believe that we're heading in the wrong direc-"_

"_We can't go back now. Especially after you destroyed the interior of your home. Isn't that right, Ulrich?"_

The group immediately grew worried for their friend's answer. Even if it was only for a few seconds, they could feel something very sinister coming from it. They had all seen that story on the news, where the Stern residence was completely destroyed from the inside. If Ulrich really was a part of this act, they would understand why Odd was so concerned about his behaviour.

"_Yes."_

"_And you don't regret making that decision, mainly because you know that in the end, you're going to put your father behind bars?"_

"_Y-Yes."_

"_And I assume your friends don't even know this thing that you're doing. That what you're doing is against the law as well, but you know it's all for the good of those people, because you are protecting them from your father, don't you?"_

"_Yeah. I have to protect my friends, no matter what happens to me, they can't get involved in this. Otherwise their lives will be endangered."_

"_The decision you made with me three days ago had forged you a new path from which you cannot stray. You've become the very thing you want to be… Powerful, and only caring to the actions that have affected these poor people. Isn't that right?"_

"_Yes Avikar. You have made me powerful to help me get revenge on my father. And I… I don't know what other path I can rely on to finally ruin him. Please… Command me as one of your own. Your direction can set me a path for which I can follow, and so I can get what I truly desire."_

"_So you want all of this power, but in order to get it, you're submitting yourself to me?"_

"_Yes."_

"I can't bear to hear anymore Jeremie. Stop it, now," Yumi commanded.

Jeremie pressed the stop button, agreeing with Yumi completely. His body was overcome by this shock; he couldn't believe Ulrich would go down to such a low level to reveal that his father was a crook. But Ulrich had good intentions, which was what Jeremie found hard to comprehend.

Jeremie had the courage to look up at his friends, all displaying some form of devastation. Odd had put his head down in his arms, unable to bear anymore of what his roommate had transformed into. Inside, he wanted to deny the audio information his brain has processed.

Aelita's face had two liquid streams coming from her eyes. She could only cry for him because his mind and his emotions were shattered.

Yumi however, kept a rather emotionless expression. But Jeremie could easily tell that she was bottling up her feelings, and she would soon let them out.

"Jeremie, why did he have to do this?" Yumi asked, trying to not sound angry.

"I'm not sure, but he clearly did admit to his crimes," Jeremie stated as calm as he could.

"I should've known. I should've protected him from this!" Yumi snapped.

"What do you mean Yumi?"

"I got in so much trouble from my parents because I had to knock that user out to save Ulrich, and then bring him all drugged up into my home and then explain to my parents why the hell I brought a lowlife like him into the house! I should've not noticed him and left him for dead that night!"

"Yumi, if he died then our group would be perfect targets for XANA if we were one member down permanently. And when did you-"

"After all that I did for him… After listening to what happened to him that night, after saving his life, after all that God damn effort to keep him safe he just gave me a big, juicy 'Screw you' to my face and did not regret it! Do you have any idea how I feel? Let me spell it out to you all. I feel betrayed! Just absolutely… used by that bastard!"

"Hey Yumi, slow down! What do you-" Odd retorted.

"It was completely his fault! He messed up my life enough, and then he just kills himself and leaves a mess that I have to clean up because of him! I'm never going to trust him again! He just broke our friendship by giving himself up to Avikar, and I… I… I-"

Yumi looked up at the roof, searching for her voice to end her sentence. But there was nothing, only empty space quickly filling her mind. The words that she was looking for was written in her handwriting in her head, but she couldn't say them out loud.

_Cannot forgive him._

She stared at those words which blinded her vision, provoking her to say them, but her heart had other plans to prevent her declaring them. Her line of sight was getting blurry, not because of lack of awareness, but it was because of there was something in those eyes caused by her emotions.

She backed into a wall, slowly moved down into a crouching position, and let a warm sensation run down her face. Jeremie, Odd and Aelita couldn't help but to be by her side, knowing that she just broke down, unable to cope with cold factual information from the recording.

"Yumi, I'm so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing by finding out what he's doing but I only brought everyone down," Odd apologised.

"Odd… I forgive him… I want to take everything I said back because I was just so angry with not only him but myself," Yumi replied, feeling more of the hot wetness pour down her face.

"Why are you angry at yourself? You did everything you could possibly do to support Ulrich," Aelita reassured.

"I wasn't there to get him out of this situation. I should've known he wasn't out of trouble yet."

"We all didn't know Yumi. Ulrich concealed it from us perfectly, thinking he was doing the right thing," Jeremie explained.

"That's the only thing I blame him for now. Those other things, were just an incredible chain of events that was just going to beat Ulrich down. And 'revenge'… Avikar must have convinced Ulrich about his father with that word. He just preyed on Ulrich's desires, knowing that his father had hurt people before."

"Hurting people? Like who?" Odd asked.

"I don't know, he never said who," Yumi lied.

Adversely, she asked herself, _Why couldn't I say 'Ulrich's Dad was hurting his mother and he almost died trying to protect her?'_

"Poor Ulrich… And he cannot stop his father from doing that. No wonder why he's with Avikar now. Revenge must have simply fuelled him," Aelita stated, closing her eyes to hope that he would come out of this unscathed.

"Revenge is a dark light that blinds all that see it. Ulrich couldn't see what he was getting involved in… it isn't his fault. Avikar did this to him," Yumi declared.

"Not just Avikar. This is clearly the work of XANA. Avikar was just his pawn. We must find Ulrich now. Where would he be?" Jeremie enquired.

"I'll call him. He'll answer if he knows I'm calling."

"Good idea Yumi, and good luck."

Yumi pulled her mobile out and quickly dialled his number. She brought the phone up to her left ear, and waited for him to answer. But after a while, the only thing that answered her was his message bank, so she was forced to hang up.

The group of four confirmed he was on Lyoko, sensing something about Ulrich. Odd helped Yumi up, while Jeremie returned the information CD back in its case, hoping to use it for future reference. Once they were finished in Jeremie's room, they left immediately and made haste to the Factory.

* * *

><p>Ulrich stood on a ledge in the Mountain Sector, scanning the vast area before him for one person. He couldn't shake off that feeling he felt last night that it was exactly the same as the night that incident happened. The only difference was that it did not involve violence, but words made him crumble into submission.<p>

He remembered feeling that someone was watching him while pledging himself to Avikar, knowing he was betraying the people he had trusted for the past two years. Although, it felt like it was forced out of his mouth, like Avikar was controlling his internal thoughts to agree with everything he says.

Suddenly, his eyes picked up a lone silhouette waiting on a ledge lower than Ulrich. Ulrich confirmed his thoughts that it had to be Avikar, and without hesitation drew out one of his swords and sped his way down to confront him.

He seemed to reach him in next to no time, but Ulrich had no intention to sheath his blade around his master. There was a suspicious air emitting around him, and Ulrich wanted answers.

"Hello Ulrich. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be on Earth now?" Avikar asked.

"I was just killing some of XANA's monsters, and once I finished them off I thought I take the opportunity to ask you some questions," Ulrich responded.

"Shoot me."

"Alright. I want to ask you about last night. Why did you ask me those questions?"

"To test your loyalty of course. But I was quite surprised you take it a level higher by pledging yourself to me."

"Why were you forcing them on me?"

"Forcing them? No. I never would force out your answers. Otherwise it'll be called an interrogation."

"Then why did I feel the exactly the same as I did during that night?"

"That's a question I cannot answer. It's how you felt, not what I felt."

"Then how did you feel? Do you care about me as an individual?"

"I felt composed, and I don't care about you on an individual level, like you don't care about people."

"I do. I was the one who asked about the participants last night… It shows that I do care about people on an individual level… While you only care about what a person does for you."

"I assume that's proof, but not enough. What you did three days ago was very significant."

"Speaking about individuals, do you believe my friends will find out I'm doing this?"

"As long as you don't remain suspicious, no. They won't believe you are doing this because they think you wouldn't destroy your bedroom."

Ulrich's ears suddenly picked up a very familiar sound that he hears every time he was virtualized to Lyoko, and had mixed feeling, knowing it was his friends.

It wasn't too long until Ulrich could hear their footsteps coming closer to his location. He readied himself for combat, despite not fighting against Avikar physically. Avikar raised an eyebrow at Ulrich's positioning, wondering what he was achieving.

Soon enough, as Ulrich had pointed his sabre to Avikar, his friends had witnessed him looking like he was standing up for himself. Yumi admired Ulrich, believing that he once again connected to himself, and maybe he could finish this mental fight once and for all. Aelita and Odd smiled that Ulrich was starting to glow like he had found himself again.

"Oh, I see why you did that. So you looked like you were the good guy in front of your friends," Avikar charged.

"If you think I just wanted to just have the look you're completely mistaken. This isn't fake. This is real. I'm drawing my sword against you, because you had tricked and used me to your own ends!" Ulrich announced.

"So… I guess this is the end to our friendship. You always were the stubborn one Ulrich."

"I don't believe a friendship even existed between the two of us. You wanted me to feel powerful by commanding your own pawns. You're going to make me have command someone else higher in power to convince me to stay… like you for example?"

"In your dreams boy. You also have that vile smirk of a smartass trait about you."

"That's only reserved for people I don't like. But enough talk. Let's end this."

Ulrich activated his Super Sprint and moved like lightning towards his deceitful master, with his blades ready to slice through him. Once in striking range Ulrich swang both his swords, expecting to eliminate Avikar from existence, as he did not defend himself from the oncoming attack.

Avikar's right hand quickly morphed into a drill like needle and lunged forward into Ulrich's chest. The group was horrified to see Ulrich take such a blow to his body, but Odd rapidly recovered from the sight and tried to find higher ground where he could fire a few good shots to save his friend.

Ulrich suddenly felt a warm sensation through his body, unsure whether his body liked it or that he cannot take the heat. He felt numbness in his arms, which he reacted to it by dropping his weapons to try to remove the arm with his remaining strength which was slowly being sapped.

"Damn… you knew, didn't you?" Ulrich demanded.

"Yes, I knew you were going to turn on me at this moment because of my actions last night. However, I bet you're curious about the substance that I'm injecting," Avikar hissed.

Ulrich sensed whatever it was that was entering in his body was hazardous, and pushed harder against Avikar's arm.

"It's the same substance that took over your frien- no, your rival's body. I believe he was possessed by XANA, is that right?"

Ulrich's determination to remove the intrusive object from his body increased tremendously, using more of his limited strength. He could feel himself tire rapidly though, as more of his body was succumbing from the inside out. Avikar noticed this through the lesser force against his arm, knowing it was a great chance to seize the opportunity.

"I think it's in your best interest to let all the substance enter your body. You… won't anger it as much, and I'll be in one place. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Not really. I'd rather have a chance to get my body back and not having my friends fight against me."

"Alright. But you'll soon find you'll be working for me and XANA again. Let me assur- Argh! God damn it!" Avikar cursed, clutching his right shoulder with his left hand.

He looked up to notice a purple feline taking aim at him, which fuelled his purpose, moving his right hand further in Ulrich's body. Ulrich turned his head and spotted his friend on a high ledge.

"Odd! Hurry up! I don't think I can last too much longer!" Ulrich shouted.

Odd fired more shots after hearing Ulrich's call, still targeting Avikar's right shoulder hoping that his arrows could force out his hand. It seemed to be working, but each time Odd made progress Avikar easily pushed his hand back in. Odd grew frustrated and used his second arm to increase firing power.

However, Ulrich's vision grew blurry, and he could sense himself falling unconscious at any moment. His arms gave up on him, depleted of the remaining energy he had left in him.

Suddenly, a strong force had pushed Avikar, making him take out his hand and rocketing him backwards. He couldn't get a grip on the ground and there was no surrounding rocks or mountains he could latch onto. Avikar was quickly off the edge and plummeted into the Digital Sea.

Odd was astounded by how quickly Avikar was eliminated from existence. He looked down to see who or how it happened, spotting a raven haired girl sprinting towards Ulrich, who placed his right hand on his chest where Avikar punched through him.

"Ulrich! Hang in there!" Yumi yelled.

Ulrich could barely stand, his body was screaming to rest, wanting to let the infection take over. Ulrich tried his best to stay on his feet, but found that he just crashed and burned. He fell to the floor, with Yumi being the last thing he saw before exploring his unconscious state.

'_Wake up Ulrich!'_

_Ulrich opened his eyes, and quickly picked himself up onto his feet. The surrounding area seemed like it was completely covered in darkness. The only light Ulrich had was under him that he saw while standing up. He also noticed that his clothes didn't feel tight against his skin; he looked at his sleeves, and knew he was wearing his normal earth outfit. He also knew that his powers would not exist in this world, wherever he was._

_Ulrich spotted a sword by his feet, but there was no secondary weapon on his other side. Ulrich assumed since Lyoko did bring out his form based on the subconscious he only had one weapon to wield, despite being upgraded in both outfit and weaponry._

_He picked up the sword and investigated what the darkness had to offer. His walk was rigid with a huge burden on his shoulders. He knew travelling around his subconscious was extremely vital, but yet he had no idea where to begin. Perhaps revenge did truly blind him, but he knew he could only trust his instincts at this point in time._

_After some time of exploring, the room began to light up, revealing a platform elevated by a small flight of stairs. Placed on top of the platform seemed like a large computer or security system. Ulrich climbed the stairs and was amazed at what he saw. There were sixteen screens before him, spilt in the middle to be assigned to be left or right. He assumed it was his brain, seeing that Maths and higher order thinking was on his left side of the brain, while remembering how to play the synthesiser was on the right side._

_He never realised how organised his head was despite having gone through a lot recently. Although it did make him wonder why he wasn't so calm at some of these moments._

"_I didn't expect you to be here so quickly. You must be determined to keep control of your body," A familiar, yet vile voice declared._

_Ulrich turned his attention to his right, seeing Avikar walk up towards him. Ulrich reacted by storming towards him and blocking his path to the computer system, knowing it was vital for his functioning._

"_Yeah, I am. At least I have a chance to finish you off here," Ulrich responded, readying himself for combat._

"_Wow, you're very eager to fight. Then again I'm pretty much guaranteed to take over your body. You're not at full strength, and even if I lose you still have to fight against my subordinates searching for this very room."_

"_Then they should be weaker than you. I can take them on easily, especially if this room motivates me to protect myself and my friends!"_

"_Very well. As you Frenchmen say, En garde!"_

_Ulrich cut through the air, only to have his blade met with Avikar's. Knowing that he couldn't rely on his Lyoko powers to help him through, he kicked Avikar, sending him back off the stairs. Ulrich then charged and swang his sword, hoping it would injure his opponent. Avikar anticipated his attack and parried his blow._

_Avikar immediately counterattacked but Ulrich used his agile reflexes to avoid his slices. With his sharp eyes, he could see Avikar's sword very clearly, knowing how he was moving his weapon and how to dodge each one of his attacks._

_After evading his attacks, Ulrich saw an opportunity due to the fact his right arm was back and in a good position to dealing a very deadly strike to Avikar. He lunged forwards as Avikar moved his sword closer to his body. Ulrich's blade connected with Avikar's chest, and to add further pain he twisted his sword slowly. Avikar grabbed Ulrich's sword near the hilt, pushing it out._

_Ulrich smiled, knowing he had the advantage, so he thrust his blade in deeper. Avikar grew agitated, with his knuckles burning white, clasped his right hand around the edge of the sword and drove it back making Ulrich lose his balance and almost trip. He was forced to withdraw the blade from Avikar's chest and regain his balance._

_Avikar placed his hand on his chest and glared at Ulrich, grinning in immense satisfaction. Ulrich sensed that something about his appearance was incredibly suspicious and took a step back, just in case he was going to launch a sudden attack._

_Avikar moved his hand away from his chest, and to Ulrich's shock the wound was completely healed as he did nothing to him. Ulrich prepared himself again for the worst, knowing that Avikar was going to give it his all._

"_Is that the best you've got, boy?" Avikar demanded, twirling his weapon in his left hand._

"_It was a good way to get you frustrated, and it's also a sign that I can beat you," Ulrich retorted._

"_Ulrich Stern, you hide behind a face of your own smartassness, and it's about time you stop, because I can see through that mask. You're afraid that you are losing to me, and that losing to me would mean you'll lose the control you had over your body. Stop covering yourself up and give yourself up to it."_

"_You really think I'm that afraid? Even if my body did get taken over either myself or my friends would bring it back to its original owner."_

_Avikar gave out a thunderous laugh and responded, "You get your own body back from a virus? I doubt it. You really do have a huge mental weakness."_

"_It's not because of me. You took advantage of my situation at the time. You sympathised with me, and therefore, manipulated me to follow you. But let me reassure you, you'll receive no sympathy from me during this battle."_

"_Either way, you're trapped. Bring it!"_

Yumi shook Ulrich's body in desperation to bring him back to reality. But it was to no avail, Ulrich had not moved an inch since blacking out.

Odd and Aelita were standing behind their friends, worried for Ulrich's health and Yumi's emotional state thanks to her breakdown earlier. Aelita then took the initiative to lower herself down to Yumi's level and hugged her for emotional support. Yumi couldn't help but smile.

"Hey Odd-" Jeremie said.

"Shut up, you're ruining a moment here," Odd interrupted.

"Well, sorry to interrupt, but is Ulrich okay?"

"He's still out, and Aelita had to help Yumi, you know why."

"Yeah. Problem is I don't see any abnormalities in his body at the moment, despite that you've reported to me he was 'injected' with something."

"He was. Ulrich seemed desperate to get Avikar's hand out. I just have a really bad feeling that it could threaten his life."

"It seems that way. Maybe I could get more information if you guys move Ulrich to a tower."

"I guess that's the safest thing we could do at the moment Einstein."

"Good. Tell the girls while I program your vehicles."

Odd turned back to his female friends, with Aelita speaking to Yumi as if things were going to end up alright and that Ulrich will recover. However, Odd was unsure that what Aelita was saying was true, remembering Ulrich's desperation as he tried to remove Avikar's intruding arm from his body.

He made an exasperated sigh, forcing himself to accept that there wasn't much for him to do at the moment except to help Ulrich. He went down on one knee next to the girls and his unconscious friend, telling them what to do.

_Meanwhile, blades clashed__ repeatedly with both sides showing no fatigue as the fight for Ulrich's mind continued. Ulrich kept both hands on the handle of his sword, parrying Avikar's blows with caution. He was afraid that one false move may be the difference between winning and losing this vital battle. And he couldn't afford to lose his mind._

_He'd been through a change and back, aware that his feelings towards __his father created all the events that happened until the present moment. He let himself be consumed by his own anger and hatred, instead of telling somebody the entire story of what happened that night. The entire story being, the details and especially, his feelings during that time. He neglected telling Yumi that he was very angry about this, and he was going to pay the price._

_He defended Avikar's constant slashing, knowing that this battle was more important than any other he's been in his life. The teenager was sick of taking it to the back foot, seeing control of his body buckle under an agent of XANA._

_Ulrich put more weight on his right foot, and swang his blade like a tennis player pulling off a backhand technique. Avikar was caught off guard by Ulrich's sudden aggression, almost disarming him of his weapon. Then, Ulrich quickly followed it with a roundhouse kick to his head, knocking Avikar to the ground, disarming him at the same time._

_Ulrich sprinted towards Avikar, ready to deal the final blow to him. He wanted this evil agent out of his body, knowing he would be forced to perform actions against his will. __His anger and aggression was written all over his face. He finally had an outlet to release all those negative thoughts and feelings. Since his father was no option, it was best that Avikar would experience Ulrich's wrath._

_In a desperate attempt to protect himself, Avikar used his arm as a last resort. Ulrich ignored the pathetic defence he put up and let out a battle cry while slashed Avikar across his body. XANA's agent let out a deafening scream, the pain unbearable for the servant to rise up and fight again. _

_It was all over. Ulrich successfully guarded his body from being possessed by XANA. He sighed in relief, glad he expelled that substance from his body. He was still catching his breath, but was smiling at the same time. He was going to remember this victory for a long while yet._

_All of a sudden, Ulrich was rocketed across the room. His blade ripped out __of his hand, flying to another part of the room. He soon hit the floor and skidded slightly before he came to a stop. He sat up, bewildered of what just happened. He could feel pain erupting from his body, realising quickly he took a very heavy blow. He clutched his side while looking for where the attack came from._

_When he finally noticed the origin of the blow, he scanned the area in panic, searching for his weapon. His aggressor was his biggest fear, Avikar, who struck back with a vengeance.__ He spotted his sword in the distance, and despite the pain, he got up on his feet._

_As soon as he achieved that, he was shot back down by a bolt of lightning from Avikar. Ulrich groaned in pain while Avikar approached him. There was nothing he could do to stop his opponent from keeping his distance, with the second bolt weakening Ulrich significantly._

"_Ulrich, Ulrich, Ulrich… What a fool. Did you really believe you could defeat me with just one blade?" Avikar questioned._

"_As far as I remember, you were taking a beating before you used your cheap powers," Ulrich stated._

"_Smartass. Your mortal abilities will never break XANA's control of your body… Unfortunately; you don't have the antibodies to fight him," Avikar responded._

"_Antibodies?" Ulrich asked._

"_That's right. Antibodies. Oh well… there's nothing you can do, Ulrich Stern. And you should appreciate the rest you're getting, because keeping maintenance of your human body is very difficult. Goodnight and thanks for allowing me inside your body."_

_Ulrich closed his eyes, knowing that he was defeated. The last thought before everything went numb was of his friends, strongly believing that they would save him from this misery._

Yumi and Odd were carrying the unconscious Ulrich to the Overwing in an attempt to deliver him to the closest tower to inspect what's wrong with him. Aelita remained on guard just in case monsters were to ambush them. She was also extremely concerned for Ulrich, unsure what's going on inside that head of his.

Jeremie sat in his seat, staring at the screen with his head resting on a clenched fist. He would usually be working on other things while his friends dealt with monsters or travelling from one place to another, but like Aelita, he was worried about Ulrich too. He was hoping that whatever he scans in Ulrich wasn't any bad news.

Yumi Ishiyama was hoping that she wasn't too late from rescuing Ulrich from that bludgeon Avikar inflicted on him. After all that she did for him, she was praying that it wasn't all for naught. What happened within the past week for Ulrich was tough, but now that she's certain he completely recovered from these events, everything could return to normalcy if Jeremie's scan didn't pick up any abnormalities.

Suddenly, Ulrich pushed both Odd and Yumi aside, freeing himself from their hold on him. As soon as the trio set their eyes on him, he clutched his head, groaning in pain. The group didn't dare to approach him, knowing that he needed his space as he thrashed around the area. It looked like there was no need for a scan to see that something was wrong with Ulrich.

"Einstein, something is definitely wrong with Ulrich. He's just moving on his own, but he seems to be in a lot of pain," Odd announced.

"Great, that makes it more difficult to transport him to the tower. Figure out a way to stop him from moving while I'll try to get some sort of analysis," Jeremie ordered.

But as soon as Jeremie issued the command, Ulrich froze in his spot. He was looking down at the mountain terrain, where his eyes were unnoticeable. His posture was poor, almost like a puppet in dangling from its strings. He was also breathing heavily, like he was suffering a fever.

Yumi, Odd and Jeremie were clueless about what was going on. Once again, Yumi and Odd didn't know how to approach the situation, never seeing Ulrich in this state before. They anticipated that he would collapse and fall unconscious again due to the activity of the foreign substance inside him.

However, Aelita felt like this moment was unmistakably similar to another. It was the same body language William had before revealing he was possessed by XANA. It was the calm before the storm, afraid that Ulrich was going to do the same thing against his will. Then, he could be controlled by Avikar for months until Jeremie found a cure. That was the worse case scenario though.

But that worse case scenario caused Aelita to turn the other direction and run as far as she possibly could from Ulrich. Yumi and Odd picked up on Aelita's heavy footsteps and focused their attention onto her.

"Aelita, why are you running away from Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

"We're too late. He's been possessed by XANA. Just get away from him!" Aelita commanded.

Yumi spun around, gazing at Ulrich's limp body. She couldn't just abandon him like this after all she's been through to bring him back to life. She gingerly took two steps closer to him, keeping Aelita's warning in mind.

Abruptly, Ulrich straightened his posture and glared at Yumi. Yumi then took two steps back, frightened out of her skin. She should've listened to Aelita; the eyes of XANA replaced Ulrich's pupils, and he smirked as she was his first target.

Odd followed Aelita's lead and ran off on all fours, hoping Yumi would distract Ulrich until he was a good distance away from him. It was cruel to leave Yumi like that, but he needed to let himself have the chance to take down Ulrich if Yumi failed.

The newly possessed slave drew out his blades and lunged at Yumi with no hesitation in his strike. Yumi was caught by surprise, expecting that she would have time to draw out his fans. The swords pierced through her stomach, immediately devirtualizing her.

As her digital avatar disintegrated, Ulrich leaned to her left ear and whispered, "Thanks Yumi. Dealing with your friends is going to be so much easier."

Before she could reach out for Ulrich, she was transported back to the confined scanner. The doors opened before her, but she didn't step out. Instead, she leaned on the wall, trying to recover from the fatal blow inflicted on her on Lyoko.

"God damn it!" Yumi barked, slamming her fist against the scanner interior.

The new Ulrich smirked in satisfaction, licking his lips after tasting his first kill. He felt refreshed, a brand new person, and incredibly powerful. Avikar's power was pulsing through his veins like an addicting drug, and he was in a state of ecstasy.

He quickly picked up Odd in his line of sight, running away from him. Ulrich activated his super sprint, easily catching up to him. Odd looked over to his right, and jumped in shock. Ulrich took care of Yumi too quickly, and there was no way he could retaliate back effectively.

Ulrich placed his second weapon back in its case, and raised his left hand in front of Odd. Believing that Ulrich was taking aim at him, Odd increased his footfalls to avoid his upcoming attack. However, Ulrich didn't strike. Instead, he hit the brakes and closed his eyes while he skidded slightly across the mountain terrain.

Suddenly, Odd was levitating in mid air. He was still 'running', but he wasn't moving forward at all. He turned his body around, gobsmacked at who performed this technique.

"Hey Einstein! Looks like Avikar has possessed Ulrich!" Odd shouted.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. He devirtualized Yumi quite easily. I'm looking for a weakness at the moment," Jeremie responded.

"Well, I also wanted to let you know he's using Yumi's telekinesis ability on me! And I can't move because of it!" Odd yelled.

"What!" Yumi exclaimed, her voice coming from the elevator which just opened on the Supercomputer room's floor.

She hastily walked up to Jeremie's side, checking what the screen was showing him. There was no sign that Ulrich was using telekinesis on Odd, but it did tell Yumi that Ulrich was indeed possessed by Avikar. She could also see that Odd wasn't moving, as his marker was remaining on the same spot on screen.

"How is that possible?" Jeremie enquired, dumbfounded by Odd's horrible discovery.

"Ulrich must've drained my powers when he devirtualized me," Yumi answered.

"Odd, try to take him out if you can! Aelita, take to the air, Ulrich's going to have trouble hitting you if you do that!" Jeremie commanded.

"Alright, thanks Jeremie. I'll do it right away," Aelita responded.

Odd didn't respond to Jeremie. It was near impossible to land an accurate shot on the possessed Ulrich with his sword in hand. He raised his right arm and aimed at Ulrich's torso, the biggest target on Ulrich's body. It was the best chance he had to set himself free from Ulrich's psychic hold.

Once Odd felt sure that the arrow was going to hit, he fired. Everything then started moving in slow motion, the arrow, which was piercing through the air, seemed to take forever to seem close to striking Ulrich. It was only a matter of time before Ulrich noticed it.

Ulrich slowly opened his eyes, seeing the arrow heading directly towards him. With his blade ready in his right hand, he watched the dart like arrow closely. Then, with precision timing, he swang his blade across his body. A loud clang was heard, and the steel arrow was battered away from Ulrich.

Almost immediately, Ulrich clenched his left fist and put it closer to his face. Suddenly, Odd was pulled towards Ulrich, travelling at an incredible velocity towards him. His fate was mercilessly placed in Ulrich's hands, unable to stop himself from moving towards him.

To his horror, Ulrich pointed his blade at him. It only meant one thing; Ulrich had plans to use his powers to his advantage. Soon enough, Odd felt the blade of Ulrich's sabre impale him. He looked down, seeing that it was directed at his stomach. Ironically, that was the exact area Odd was targeting on Ulrich.

His body soon disintegrated before Ulrich, making him grow ever so much in confidence. He spun around, and activated his Super Sprint. There was no time to waste; he had to catch up to XANA's creator's daughter, Aelita Schaeffer.

Aelita flattened her wings, making herself more aerodynamic in the air. She had to stay as far away as she possibly could before firing her first attack at him. She was tempted to check where Ulrich was, but she couldn't afford to slow down.

Abruptly, she was stopped, in mid-air. Confused, she spun around, amazed that she could do that, and spotted Ulrich running at incredible speeds, approaching the area. He had his left arm raised in the air, indicating that he was using Yumi's telekinesis to stop Aelita in her tracks. Ulrich was still a good nine hundred metres away from her, making Aelita wonder how could he use telekinesis from that distance.

Despite how panicked she felt, she forced herself to calm down. She charged up two energy fields for a short time, then combined them together to create one huge energy field. She focused on Ulrich, while charging the huge mass of energy above her head. There was no way he could survive this blow if it was accurate.

Ulrich then stopped two hundred metres away from Aelita, and looked up at her. He wasn't fazed one bit at Aelita's oncoming attack. He stood his ground and smirked. He knew how to counter this attack, but decided on a more amusing path to do so.

Aelita released the ball of energy; confident she had the right aim and that it would defeat Ulrich, maybe even setting him free of the possession consider he'd only been possessed for less than ten minutes. She watched the energy ball plummeted down towards Ulrich like a meteorite. With the extra momentum from gravity it would surely burst through any sort of defence Ulrich put up.

Ulrich positioned his blade defensively, effectively putting up a purple dome shield in front of his blade. He smirked, glad that the first part of his plan had worked. Then, he put left hand right in front of him, like he was reaching out for the pretty pink energy ball. He closed his eyes and imagined what he desired to happen.

Aelita observed her attack slowly, but surely reach the earth. With Ulrich directly under it, there was no way he could survive. It was like Avikar just grew cocky with controlling Ulrich and believed he could withstand an attack like that. However, it did not explode as Aelita expected. It just remained there in one spot.

"Jeremie, my attack has stopped. Is Ulrich being devirtualized at the moment or is something else happening?" Aelita asked.

Jeremie stared at the screen, questioning why both combatants were remaining still. Yumi on the other hand quickly realised why the possessed Ulrich was standing there. And it was a horrible revelation to make.

She ripped the headset off Jeremie and commanded into the microphone, "Aelita! Move before it's too late!"

As soon as Yumi finished her sentence, the giant energy field was sent back to Aelita. Aelita attempted to fly lower, but from being stationary for far too long, she was easily taken out by her own attack. She let out a scream when being devirtualized by the energy field intended for Ulrich.

The possessed Ulrich sheathed his blade. His idea had worked. He managed to stop the energy field using the techniques he stole from Yumi and Odd. Then, with his beyond superhuman power he used telekinesis as he stabbed the large energy field, catching its user off guard.

Ulrich spun around and activated his Super Sprint. As he approached the edge, he showed no fear of the Digital Sea, now immune to its effects. He sprung off the platoon, and dived right into the Digital Sea. He wouldn't walk on the earth until XANA assigned him a mission.

Meanwhile, the recovering Odd heard the hissing sound of the scanner opening. He looked up, noticing Aelita's silhouette behind the steam. Suddenly, she fell forwards, forcing Odd to catch her. He had trouble lifting up her dead weight by himself, feeling physically exhausted from being on Lyoko, especially after being impaled by his best friend's weapon. But he knew Aelita was in a worse condition than he was. She was knocked unconscious, and who knows whenever she would wake up.

Odd wrapped one of Aelita's arms around his shoulder, and slowly walked towards the elevator. Never had he felt so sad in his life. His roommate, best friend was completely under control of XANA, while a friend of his was out cold due to his roommate. However, he knew somebody that would be feeling more depressed about Ulrich's possession.

Upstairs, in the Supercomputer Lab, Yumi dropped the headset, spun around and walked towards a wall in the Factory, all done in silence. She was devastated. She saved Ulrich's life, but yet she couldn't save him from giving himself up to Avikar. When she stood before the wall, she formed a fist and slammed it. She wished she was more aware, and most definitely, stronger, to save Ulrich from this fate.

Ulrich revealed most of his problems to Yumi. He was traumatized at how his father easily defeated him and raped his mother. He had his mother, and his friends' lives on his shoulders, knowing how much danger they would put themselves in if they were to fight his father. Trying to enjoy himself during a difficult time, he had his drink spiked and almost did things he didn't want to do. It was enough to send this boy seeking revenge on his father. Yet, Yumi didn't see all that. All she saw was her best friend needing comfort and she tried her best to help him.

Now that he was possessed, she was going to have a difficult time fighting him. She knew the path that led him to where he was today, controlled by Avikar, and felt like she couldn't raise a hand against him with that knowledge in her mind. Every fight on Lyoko became a physical and mentally draining battle until they set Ulrich free.

Jeremie, who remained seated, stared at his screen. He was already thinking of procedures to set Ulrich free. However, the programs would take months to complete, and he didn't have the time to complete that project, as he was also working on the multi-agent program. The boy genius slapped his forehead, perplexed at what to proceed with first.

Things would've been different if Ulrich told them everything up front. Heck, Jeremie, Odd and Aelita still didn't know everything that was going on in Ulrich's life. Only Yumi knew, and even though Jeremie ask why she didn't reveal it during her breakdown out of respect, eventually, she would have to tell everything to them. That way, they could finally understand Ulrich.

For the time being, Jeremie had to figure out strategies to multiple things before having to tackle down whether could be freed Ulrich now or later.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> Wow, my favourite chapter is over. I'm a little bit disappointed it's over, but hey, it was extremely fun to write.

Anyway, there had to be a breaking point for Yumi. Being the oldest member of the group, she always has appeared strong, but every person has a breaking point, and obviously that recording pushed her feelings over the line. It was one of my favourite scenes to write in this fic, and fortunately, there's still a lot more to come.

'Revenge is a dark light that blinds all who see it' is a quote from a show called 'Life'. It's where this police detective got sentenced to life in prison for murder and was then found out to be innocent, so he was released immediately. Personally, I think that's an awesome quote, but unfortunately I don't think that show runs anymore.

The scenes in italics are what's going on in Ulrich's mind. I thought having these scenes would have a huge impact on the story, and give it the depth that it deserves. Although, it's pretty crazy having to write the stuff that's going on in his mind while other things are happening outside.

And yes, Avikar possessed Ulrich, not XANA. That will be explained in the next chapter, so I hope you're looking forward to it!


	8. Chapter 8: The Backs of the Bruised

_Well, I've got double the reviews of my next highest reviewed story, which is fantastic! Anyway, onto the chapter!_**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger acts on my instincts._

**Chapter 8: The Backs of the Bruised**

Then, there were four. Four warriors who could fight XANA, four warriors who could defend Earth from his attacks. But there used to be five. Ulrich had fallen from their ranks and transformed into a possessed slave of XANA's. He left them battered and bruised, with Yumi feeling devastated, Odd recuperating from a blade that pierced his stomach on Lyoko, and Aelita was knocked unconscious. Only Jeremie seemed fine, but yet, he had to decide between saving Ulrich and working on the multi-agent system.

He gazed at the screen. He had already thought of ideas to cover for Ulrich's absence from school. Fortunately, since his house was destroyed three days ago, he thought it would be best if there were no Ulrich clone around the school, considering how much the William clone did dumb down William in the eyes of the students. However, Jeremie couldn't use that excuse forever, so he had to make a clone eventually.

Suddenly, a message window popped on screen. Jeremie quickly realised it was Franz Hopper, and called the rest of his conscious members to the Supercomputer. While Yumi and Odd headed over there, Franz had said, _'I'm sorry to hear what happened to your friend.'_

Jeremie quickly responded, _'Thanks. I'm glad you're here now, because I'm not sure what to do with the programs and what to prioritize first.'_

"Jeremie, is it Franz Hopper?" Odd enquired from behind.

Jeremie jumped slightly and answered, "Yeah. It is. I'm hoping he would provide an answer to our dilemma."

'_Let me take care of freeing Ulrich. I think I can complete a program that destroys the antibodies in Ulrich's body in two days at best,'_ Franz declared.

The group were surprised to see Franz take care of Ulrich, especially when assisting with the multi-agent program. Jeremie recovered from the shock and typed up a question to Franz.

'_Two days? How?'_

'_Simple. Ulrich wasn't possessed by XANA via Scyphozoa, he was possessed by antibodies, designed to corrupt his mind so he can fight against you. The only way to be possessed by XANA antibodies is to receive it directly from physical part of XANA, even though XANA is xenomorphic.'_

'_Wait, you're saying that Avikar was a part of XANA?'_

'_It's the only way. Ulrich left XANA no choice once he stepped into the scanners several times. His immunity is too strong to receive it indirectly, so XANA needed to give him a direct injection. Anyway, these antibodies are easy to get rid of; you simply create ones that destroy those antibodies so Ulrich can regain control of his body. Since I created XANA, I know how to create a counter program to remove these antibodies.'_

'_I guess that leaves us no choice. I'll continue working on the multi-agent program and see how far I get with it.'_

'_Right. I'll send you an update on it once I've made some progress. Good luck and stay on your guard, XANA will try to seize this opportunity.'_

'_Good point. And I hope that programming will be completed in two days.'_

Franz went offline, leaving the three teenagers to their own lives. However, it was difficult to know where to begin without Ulrich around. But Franz's final words did make them feel incredibly edgy about the near future.

A groan escaped Aelita's mouth, causing her to wake up. She quickly realised that they lost the fight to bring Ulrich back before Avikar had full control of him. She then found out that she was sitting down, resting on the back of the wall. Her friends were all staring at her with relieved looks on their faces.

"Aelita, thank God you're okay!" Jeremie exclaimed, running up to her.

"What happened?" Aelita enquired, slowly standing up.

"Ulrich's possessed, and your father's working on the program while I'm working on the multi-agent system," Jeremie answered.

"Why aren't you working with my father on it?" Aelita asked.

"Your father insisted that he'd complete that task. He said he could do it in two days, so it won't be long until we get Ulrich back," Jeremie reassured.

"Ok. So, what do we do for the time being?"

"We head to class and find an excuse for Ulrich's absence," Odd stated.

"Don't worry, I got that figured out," Jeremie responded.

* * *

><p>Most of the students at Kadic Academy were sleeping soundly at night, even after being told that Ulrich Stern was with his parents to support them through their devastation, and to see it for himself. However, the students who told Mr. Delmas the news could not sleep a wink, knowing the real truth behind the news.<p>

In Ulrich's room, Odd kept on staring at Ulrich's bed, while patting Kiwi, who made soft whimpers every now and again. It appeared that Kiwi was also affected by Ulrich's absence, sensing that something horrible happened to him. Odd kept his deeper emotions on the matter inside, needing to remain strong for his pet and others.

Aelita was tossing and turning in her bed, trying to get her mind off Ulrich. But it was impossible, especially imagining what terrible things were happening to him while under the influence of XANA. She opened her eyes, just realising that she had shed tears. She wiped her face, but kept staring at the ceiling, thinking about how they could save their poor friend.

Jeremie was used to pulling all-nighters and keeping himself awake. However, the feeling wasn't the same. Knowing that Ulrich wouldn't spot the keyboard markings on his forehead when he fell asleep at the computer made Jeremie miss him already. He then began to wish that he could work on the program to free Ulrich from Avikar, but he knew he would be in Franz Hopper's way, and hoped that Franz could complete it in the time stated.

Suddenly, an all too familiar beeping noise came from Jeremie's computer. It only had meant one thing. _XANA was on the move._ He was attacking at night, forcing the warriors to either wake up from their rest or making them spend more of their energy until they were physically exhausted.

Jeremie called up his friends immediately. Odd answered. Aelita answered. But Yumi didn't answer. Jeremie assumed that she didn't answer or… she was the target for the attack. Odd opened his door, signalling him to hurry. Odd and Jeremie ran down the corridor, hoping the attack wasn't going to be too bad.

Then again… XANA always had a _catch_ to his attacks.

* * *

><p>Odd pulled out both Aelita and Jeremie from the manhole, setting foot on the long bridge to the Factory. They were all exhausted from this arduous day and wished it ended right at this moment. They were still feeling the effects of being down one team member in Ulrich, who they greatly miss already. But they had to tough it out.<p>

Jeremie took the lead as the trio sprinted towards the Factory, determined to finish the day on a high note. Despite his body telling him to catch up on two nights of lost sleep, Jeremie shrugged off his tiredness.

Suddenly, he hit the brakes on his footfalls and instinctively moved his right arm up. His worse fears had been confirmed. Odd and Aelita stopped seeing their friend's arm, wondering why their genius friend blocked their path.

They spotted two silhouettes, one was dangled over the edge of the bridge, struggling and kicking in an attempt to escape. The other figure was like a statue, unfazed of the struggling person it was holding over a deathly height. Quickly, they realised who those people were, however, they wished they didn't know who they were.

"Stop it, please," Yumi pleaded, her eyes growing smaller as her life was hanging on by a thread.

Her brown eyes focused on a hand grasping her dark shirt tight, while her hands held on her attacker's left arm. Out of each time that her life was in jeopardy, she never felt as scared as she was at this moment. She never thought never thought she would be confronted by her first and closest friend like this.

She was caught between a rock and a hard place, knowing she would die from hitting the surface of the water from that height, yet she couldn't bring herself to hurt him. She was torn inside from… facing Ulrich Stern, a victim of Avikar's possession.

Showing no emotion, he gazed at his captive, wanting to drop her to her watery death. But his grip remained on her shirt, knowing that he might gain something incredibly valuable from XANA's cause, even against his own will. It seemed that XANA values progress over human lives.

With his sense of hearing heightened, Ulrich turned his head, spotting XANA's enemies. They looked immensely shocked at the sight they were seeing, which he could exploit to XANA's advantage. The possessed Lyoko warrior smirked at his friends, then slowly pressed his tongue on the top of his lips and slowly moved it to the other side of his mouth, tasting victory already.

"Belpois," Ulrich called in his distorted voice, "It's good to see you again."

"Avikar, you have no right to make my friend call me by that name!" Jeremie barked.

"Are you trying to make me drop-" Ulrich stated, loosing his hold on Yumi's shirt, where Yumi felt herself fall momentarily. She was only stopped by his fingertips, which held her weight over the river. In a sudden reaction, she held onto his arm tighter to release her escalating stress, "-our friend to her death?"

The trio were almost as terrified as Yumi was, not only because she was almost fell to her death, but it was Ulrich, the one who cared about her the most, was doing this against his will. They didn't want to witness one close friend killing another, knowing what they've been through together. They knew exactly what XANA was doing, but they couldn't do anything to stop it.

"Speechless? I'm glad you understand what I'm capable of. Either I drop Yumi or… You give me Franz Hopper's location," Ulrich declared.

"What!" Jeremie exclaimed, "What makes you think I know where Franz Hopper is?"

"Simple. He contacts you. When I get ahold of what he contacts you with, I'll just use that to track him down in the network. Now, if you give me access to the Supercomputer, I'll spare Yumi's life," Ulrich proposed.

Odd was going to rebut on Jeremie's case, but Aelita covered his mouth before he said anything. It was their duty to protect the Supercomputer, as it was the technology that allowed them to travel to Lyoko and back.

But was it worth one of their friend's lives? Not only that, whatever decision Jeremie made on behalf of the group would lead to major repercussions from XANA. Jeremie couldn't make such a decision to sacrifice a friend's life, even over an object he spent more time with.

As Jeremie opened his mouth, Yumi ordered, "Drop me Avikar! I dare you to!"

Aelita gasped in disbelief. She couldn't comprehend why Yumi would allow it to happen. However, Yumi showed no fear and struggled even more to escape Avikar's grasp. Ulrich grinned evilly, and focused his attention onto Yumi.

"Is that your wish?" Ulrich asked.

"Of course it is! Drop me!" Yumi shouted.

"Yumi, it's not worth risking your life for him!" Odd warned.

"Too true Odd. And besides, the old Ulrich is too weak to come to surface. I've locked him up tight, and even if I drop you, there's no way he'll be able to rescue you," Ulrich added.

"Ulrich would push me off the edge of a cliff if I asked him to. C'mon, prove to me you have more balls than the old Ulrich!" Yumi encouraged.

Ulrich growled, extremely annoyed that Yumi was so insistent on dying than allow Jeremie to go through the agonising decision between life and death. He wanted Jeremie to suffered for all he's done to him, and to force him to give up all he worked for. However, with her recent actions, he desired to kill Yumi moreso than XANA's mortal enemy.

The possessed warrior further removed Yumi's shirt from his left hand, leaving Yumi quite literally, hanging by a thread over the river. She could drop down at any moment. Jeremie was now terrified of the high possibility of Yumi falling and hitting the surface of the water, which was essentially her landing on concrete.

Fear was now creeping up within Yumi. The unpredictability of slipping out of Ulrich's grasp was up to gravity. However, she refused to hold onto Ulrich's arm, determined to see this through. The rest of the group could not comprehend why Yumi would still let herself be perilously close to death.

_Ulrich kept his focus on Yumi, watching her put her life on the line for him. He atte__mpted to wrestle free of the hands of the program controlling his actions, but in his weakened state he could not escape. He looked over at his nemesis, Avikar, who was at the control panel, smirking slightly at his recent achievement._

_Avikar had each Lyoko Warrior right in his grasp. Ulrich was trapped, Yumi was dangling over her death, and the rest of the group refused to do anything to hurt Yumi. It was perfect. Nobody ever froze each individual hero in their place. Even XANA couldn't do anything to put his enemies in this position._

_However, one thing that did disturb him was that Yumi could see through his plan and attempted to lure the 'real' Ulrich out. Fortunately for Avikar, he did have a contingency plan just in case it did happen. The hands pinning Ulrich down into place also drained whatever energy he had left so that Avikar could have more control to manipulate his body. Not only that, Ulrich would expose more of his energy to try to save Yumi, allowing the hands to absorb more energy to maintain control of his body._

"_Let Yumi go! She did nothing to you!" Ulrich barked, struggling further against the arms holding his biceps._

"_Nothing? She pushed my body into the Digital Sea! You're the only physical body I have, boy!" Avikar snapped back._

"_Then maybe you shouldn't have been so careless with your own body while you were possessing mine!" Ulrich retorted._

"_Either way, this turned out better than I expected. I'm controlling your body, your girlfriend is dangling over her death, and your friends are stuck in one spot! I got you all exactly where I want you!" Avikar shouted._

_Ulrich growled as Avikar returned to controlling his body. He wished he could break out of those arms and beat the crap out of Avikar. But those arms were draining his energy, making his attempts weaker and weaker. There wasn't much he could do in his position._

_He looked over at the screen, where Avikar was controlling 'his' view. 'He' was staring at Yumi, who was trying to catch her breath while dangling violently over the river. He was afraid that Yumi could drop at any time, not to mention that it appeared that he was the one who killed Yumi. That thought Ulrich couldn't live with, even though he wasn't in control of his body._

_Then, his thought about his friends, imagining how they would feel seeing him holding Yumi over the edge of the bridge to a twenty metre drop to the water's surface. They would be trying to figure out ways to take him out while saving Yumi, but if that plan didn't work Yumi would die. It all ended the same; Yumi would die unless Jeremie allowed his possessed body access to the Supercomputer._

_Ulrich closed his eyes, filling his thoughts with Yumi. She was about to die, and there was nothing he could do, except remember the good times they spent together. He reminisced the times he saved her life, where he would run like his life depended on it. Then, in a moment, he would grab her wrist and held on, like his life depended on it. She would look up and into his eyes, and would smile the most beautiful smile from the most beautiful girl he's met in his life._

_Suddenly, he felt elevated. Happy. Positive. When was the last time he felt that? The last time was when the principal announced that there was a long weekend coming up. However, that positive feeling was very, very strong. Almost euphoric. Euphoria… now when was the last time he felt that? Then he realised, Yumi was the reason why he felt that way._

_He let the feeling overwhelm him, finding new strength he never knew that existed within him. This inner strength forced him to open his eyes, and stare at Avikar with a new resolve. He lowered his centre of gravity, his target in sight. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins with the thought, 'I'm going to break your rules, asshole.'_

_From the corner of his eye, on the screen before him, Yumi began to fall. Ulrich knew there was only a matter of time until she was going to fall. And it was happening. At this moment. There was no more time._

_Ulrich mouthed two words and bolted, snapping the hands holding him in his spot. Avikar heard of his hands' destruction, but he was too late to retaliate. Ulrich knocked him out cold. Immediately, he spun around got his hands all over the controls._

Quickly feeling his uncorrupted nerves, Ulrich dropped down to the concrete bridge. As he fell down, he reached for Yumi's wrist, hoping like his Lyoko form, he would be fast enough to catch her.

Then his hand grabbed that wrist, and he'd never want to let it go. Yumi looked up at her unexpected hero, relieved that he overcame what was controlling him. She thanked him with a smile. The smile he was expecting as his reward.

"It's good to see you again," Yumi stated.

"You too," Ulrich began, shocked that his voice was back to normal, "Let's get you up here."

Ulrich pulled up Yumi over the edge of the bridge, with Yumi assisting him by using her free hand to pull herself up. Seeing that Ulrich appeared 'normal', the rest of the group approached the duo as they stood up.

Jeremie found it hard to believe that Ulrich was back to normal. Franz Hopper did tell him that he could remove Avikar's hold on Ulrich with antibodies, and being a genius, he would rarely be wrong. However, Jeremie hoped Franz Hopper was incorrect, as they would have a team member back on their side and they could focus on one major program instead of two.

"Wow! Ulrich, speak to me! Are you really back?" Odd asked excitedly.

"I… guess. My voice is back, and I'm not attacking you all against my will," Ulrich answered tentatively.

Noticing Ulrich's uncertainty, Jeremie made sure he kept his distance from Ulrich. There was no way of anybody telling if Avikar was still within Ulrich or not. Aelita could see Jeremie's hesitation, and received the same vibe from him. Ulrich breaking free of Avikar or XANA's grasp out of sheer willpower just seemed too easy.

Ulrich felt uneasy as well. To set himself free after a couple of hours of possession was too good to be true. Even though he enjoyed William's absence from school, he began to feel sorry for the poor guy. To be controlled by XANA for a long period of time must had impacted on William in some way. However, how come Ulrich could remember the pain, when William could not?

"Well Ulrich, we can make sure Avikar's presence is gone just by scanning you for any trace of XANA. If there's still some of him left I'm sure Franz Hopper has some antibodies he could give you," Jeremie reassured.

_Antibodies_. Ulrich remembered that was the last word he said before getting possessed by XANA… or Avikar. It brought up the one cold fact in his mind. A fact that Avikar told him seconds before he lost control.

"_Unfortunately; you don't have the antibodies to fight him."_

Suddenly, Ulrich felt like lightning had struck his head. He clutched his head, groaning in pain. The rest of the group were immediately concerned for Ulrich, but Jeremie had a bad feeling that Avikar's hold on Ulrich wasn't severed.

_Unexpectedly, he travelled back into the depths of his mind, finding out he was on the floor instead of the control panel. He looked up, immediately realised Avikar must have come to and was going to take control of his body again._

"_You thought you could take back control that easily?" Avikar asked mockingly._

"_No. But at least I stopped you from hurting Yumi and my friends," Ulrich responded._

"_Well, for the time being. So, can I have control of your body back?"_

"_No!"_

_Ulrich launched himself at Avikar, aware that his friends were still in danger of getting overwhelmed by him once he was possessed again._

"Ulrich, what's wrong?" Yumi asked, putting Ulrich back in reality.

"Stop the XANA attack now! It's the only thing that's keeping me possessed here!" Ulrich commanded, gritting his teeth.

"But you're not possessed now, you must be-" Odd started.

"He's going to take over me again. I'll run away from the Factory to buy you more time!" Ulrich shouted.

"Good idea. We have to head to the Supercomputer now; we might have a chance to free Ulrich!" Jeremie exclaimed.

"But we can't leave Ulrich here!" Yumi retorted.

"Yumi," Ulrich spoke up, his voice sounding weaker, "I'm sorry, but you have to leave me behind. If I can buy you more time by getting away from the Factory, you can stop the XANA attack… and he may lose control of me. Please do me that favour."

Yumi hesitated with her answer, desiring to stay with Ulrich as long as she wanted to. She couldn't stand to let Ulrich suffer alone especially with all the horrible memories and what activities Avikar did to him. However, she had to respect Ulrich's wishes, fearing that her presence may make him lose control of his body quicker than if she wasn't there.

"Alright. Stay strong," Yumi replied.

Ulrich nodded, but then grunted. Pain erupted through his head. He couldn't remain here for much longer. He faced away from the Factory and began distancing himself between the Factory and himself.

The group took it as their cue to rush into the Factory. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Ulrich was giving them time to deactivate the tower. Time that could free Ulrich of XANA's possession if they were lucky enough. And even if they don't get Ulrich back, Franz Hopper was working on something that would save their companion, relieving them on focusing on the XANA attacks and the multi-agent program.

Jeremie remembered how close he was considering giving the possessed Ulrich access to the Supercomputer just to save Yumi's life. He was thankful of Ulrich's efforts of rescuing them in the situation, and needed to use the opportunity given to them to stop XANA in his tracks.

Yumi on the other hand smiled slightly, glad that Ulrich came through for her when he did. He saved her life for the third time, and she had to repay him. She was going to perform the absolute best on Lyoko for him. To give him a chance to break free of Avikar's possession, she wanted to take down as many monsters as she could so Aelita can deactivate the tower quickly.

And nothing was going to stand in her way.

* * *

><p>Jeremie virtualized the group to the Desert Sector of Lyoko, where the activated tower was. He wasted no time to program the vehicles in the digital world, allowing Odd and Yumi to have speedy transport to the tower. Aelita activated her wings immediately once she was digitalised, also indicating that she wanted to end this quickly.<p>

Without any lame jokes from Odd, who understood the urgency of this mission, they sped off to the South. Accelerating at full speed, the trio was determined to free Ulrich without the need of Franz Hopper's program, knowing XANA was too cocky letting his new servant out into the real world. The group needed to seize this opportunity.

It was the first time every one of them were so focused on deactivating the tower. Jeremie barely spoke, only to make sure they were heading the right direction. Apart from that, nobody said a word to each other. It was eerie to Jeremie, who was sitting at the Supercomputer, yet he could understand their urgency, because he felt it as well. Plus, they all wanted to prove to Franz Hopper that they didn't need his help.

With the tower just appearing over the horizon, the group grew excited that freeing Ulrich from Avikar was only moments away. Although, that did force Jeremie to ask himself a few questions. Where were XANA's defences? Where was the Kollosus? Did XANA rely too much on blackmailing him to get access to the Supercomputer? And most importantly, why did XANA believe that he only needed Ulrich?

Abruptly, the Supercomputer alerted Jeremie to monsters in range of his allies. Jeremie quickly identified the monsters. _Hornets_. Three of them. At least that answered one of his questions. However, he saw no other monsters. It clearly looked like XANA was depending on Ulrich only for this attack.

"Guys, there are hornets right behind you. One of you hang back while somebody escorts Aelita to the tower," Jeremie ordered.

Not giving anybody anytime to respond, Yumi quickly drew out one of her fans and tossed it behind her. Like a boomerang it curved around, taking out the hornets one by one. From the corner of her left eye, she noticed the fan returning to her. She grabbed it as she heard three explosions behind her, confirming that the hornets were taken out.

"Well, it looks like we don't have to worry about that anymore," Jeremie stated.

"Yeah. You know I'm glad it wasn't the Kollosus," Odd responded.

"You just had to mention that, didn't you?" Aelita enquired.

"What if it did appear? What then?" Odd retorted.

"Speaking of monsters appearing, there are some near the tower now! And it's not the Kollosus," Jeremie announced.

The trio looked down from their vehicles, which were hovering towards the tower, spotting around five tarantulas guarding the tower. The tarantulas noticed their opponents coming their way, and began firing from their two frontal legs.

Odd placed more weight on his front leg, dipping the Overboard down. He plummeted towards the ground, while spinning around in mid air. He hoped that he wasn't going to be hit by one of those lasers.

Once he felt that he was close to the ground, he stopped spinning and put more weight on his back leg. The board was horizontal, and he could see his enemy clearly in front of him. He aimed for one of the tarantulas shooting at the girls, as it was a very easy target to eliminate.

Suddenly, a laser pierced his belly. He was shot back off his board, slamming his back on the desert ground. Odd sat up, crossing his arms over his chest, activating his shield. They were clearly targeting him and his Overboard, as a barrage of lasers were surrounding him. He underestimated how much XANA wanted to defend this tower, and his monsters' intelligence.

Jeremie stared at the screen, biting his nails at Odd's critical damage. He took a lot of punishment from the attack, and hoped Odd could find some way of preserving himself on the virtual world.

"Odd! You've lost seventy life points!" Jeremie alerted.

Yumi saw that Odd was in danger, and threw one of her fans to finish off one of the tarantulas. She knew it wasn't great to leave Aelita unguarded. At least though, it was going alleviate Odd from protecting himself against three barrages of lasers.

However, the fan was deflected by laser fire. It was quickly obliterated before Yumi's eyes, leaving her with less attacking options. Odd on the other hand, quickly stood up and sprinted towards the tarantulas, firing his own barrage of laser arrows at the distracted tarantulas.

In the spray of arrows, the arrows found three of their targets. The three unfortunate tarantulas exploded, while the other two now aimed for Odd. There was a huge opening in XANA's defences.

"I'll deactivate the tower," Aelita declared.

Aelita dove down to the tower, firing energy fields at the last two tarantulas. Due to their lack of mobility, they were easily destroyed. Yumi looked down from the air, believing that despite a few little mishaps, it was way too easy to deactivate the tower. She instantly grew worried for Aelita as her feet were almost touching the ground. It was too suspicious that XANA would let off too easily.

Aelita deactivated her wings once she hit the ground running. She rushed to the tower, desperate to save Ulrich from possession. This tower deactivation was the second most important from materializing her to Earth, knowing that she had the power to save one of her friends.

"Mould!"

All of a sudden, the earth beneath Aelita's feet rose up and constricted itself around Aelita's limbs. Once it was around Aelita's main limbs, it froze like cement, trapping Aelita in front of the tower.

Odd scanned the area for the attacker, knowing he must be nearby to put Aelita in that position. Instinctually, he ran towards Aelita, feeling that the mission would be jeopardised if she was going to be devirtualized right then and there.

Once he was in front of her, he looked around the area again. He needed to know where the attacker was before attempting to free Aelita. He didn't want to be cheaply devirtualized while helping another teammate.

"Jeremie! Can you see anyone around the tower? Other than us?" Odd demanded.

"No, not at all. It's really strange. I'm sure Aelita is in danger," Jeremie stated.

"Aelita's in huge trouble. Can you try to eliminate the earth around her arms?" Odd enquired.

"I'm happy to do that myself, Odd. Just keep an eye out for whoever did this to me," Aelita ordered.

"And I'll try to improve the sensory on the radar so I can identify who did this," Jeremie declared.

Odd felt defeated that there was no better option to find this enemy. He proceeded by looking behind Aelita, seeing no one in sight. Odd realised that the enemy was very determined to stay hidden from them for as long as he can.

Yumi was puzzled. She was surprised that from the air, she couldn't see who did stop Aelita in her tracks. Yumi began to feel that this event was even more sinister than when Aelita was running to the tower.

Aelita focused her energy to set herself free from the earth around her limbs, closing her eyes. She opened her mouth, letting an angelic voice disrupt the silence in the air. The environmental prison flashed, with its digital structure showing within. An indication her creativity was working.

Soon enough, the earth's hold on Aelita dispersed. However, Aelita was exhausted from setting herself free. Odd spun around, and grabbed her hand, to keep her from falling down. Odd told himself she had to keep on going on until she deactivated the tower. They could set Ulrich free as well if they hurry.

Abruptly, Aelita was picked up off the ground, heading in the direction of the Digital Sea against her will. Her eyes darted, trying to see who was forcing her away from the tower. However, there was no one in sight. Just some invisible force which had its grip tight on her.

Odd pivoted and quickly fired an arrow in Aelita's direction. He realised _who _was causing all the trouble and why that person remained _transparent_ on Jeremie's radar. Simply because the attacker was invisible. Odd also had suspicions that the invisible person also caused Aelita to be captured by the changing environment.

The arrow struck something above Aelita's body, causing that person's camouflage to flash. With each split second, the attacker was slowly being revealed. Odd could easily track the enemy, and shot another arrow, hoping he'll let Aelita go before he reached the Digital Sea. The second arrow hit the intruder's arm, forcing him to let go of Aelita.

Aelita hit the ground rolling, to cause little or no life point damage to herself. She looked up at the enemy, who spun around, revealing his identity. He had short dark hair, wore a white shirt, black cargo pants and very distinguishing jet black eyes. Aelita had a bad feeling confronting this man, as he already recovered from Odd's attacks.

She quickly glanced back, trying to see where Odd was. However, she noticed a large boulder flying towards an unsuspecting Yumi. Aelita couldn't help but to shout her a warning, hoping she could hear it.

Yumi turned her head and immediately focused to deflect the boulder. She moved her left hand across her body, sending the boulder in a different direction. Taking care of that problem, she looked down, spotting the attacker. But the enemy wasn't the foe Aelita was facing.

This opponent was female with long wavy brunette hair, wearing a fiery red long sleeve shirt underneath a long waistcoat of a similar shade of red. She also wore black pants and sneakers, along with a blue plated shoulder pad on her left shoulder. The only thing she had in common with her comrade was her jet black eyes.

Jeremie stared in shock at his screen, wondering how two other human individuals could possibly be on Lyoko, let alone side with XANA than humankind. Then it hit him. They were constructed by XANA, and they were out to delay his friends as long as they could.

"Who are you?" Aelita demanded, scurrying as far as she could from the man.

"We're XANA's agents. We are directly under Avikar's command, so I'm sure you knew who he is," the man answered, advancing closer to Aelita.

Aelita quickly got up to her feet, searching for anybody that could protect her from the man and possibly the woman's attacks. Fortunately, Aelita knew Yumi had the woman covered, but was unsure where Odd was.

"Do you know Ulrich?"

"Of course we do. We did his dirty work when we messed up his house and his father's office _under_ his command."

"Was that all part of the plan to trick Ulrich?"

"Well… sort of. You see, he did want to command us of his own free will. And he did order us to kill one of our comrades in suspicion that he was betraying-"

"Ulrich would never do that!" a high pitched masculine voice shouted.

Suddenly, the man felt a sharp pain jolt through his right shoulder. He quickly clutched it with his left hand as he watched Odd Della Robbia stand between him and Aelita. He growled, annoyed at this interference.

"I bet you and _Scarlet_ over there murdered your teammate just to trick Ulrich!" Odd continued, aiming at the man.

"You're smarter than you look. But at least we have you right where we want you now. Oh, and by the way, her name is _Blaise_, not Scarlet. And I'm Pascal. Sorry to meet your acquaintance this way, but I hope to see you jump in the Digital Sea after your princess plunges to her death! Camouflage!" Pascal yelled.

He disappeared from sight, forcing Odd to remain close to Aelita. Odd quickly scanned the surrounding area around him, but saw no indication of Pascal running circles around him. Aelita grabbed Odd's arm, not only for reassurance, but also to force Pascal of the immediate consequences for attempting to throw her into the Digital Sea.

Meanwhile, Yumi had her hands full with Blaise, who was taking chunks out of the desert sector and chucking them at Yumi. Yumi was dealing with the situation well, but using telekinesis was zapping her energy up fast, weakening her very quickly.

Jeremie, watching all this from the sidelines, saw no movement from his point of view. Their arrows on the radar remained still. Overhearing the conversation just before Pascal dropped out from the radar, Jeremie realised that Pascal's threat was real. That they had them right where they wanted, again.

Not only that, but it was only a matter of time before Ulrich would lose control of his body. The new enemies would delay the group for a long while, and their chances of saving Ulrich would be getting slimmer by the second. Jeremie crossed his fingers, hoping for some solution to arise.

* * *

><p>At the edge of Kadic's forest, Ulrich was on his hands and knees, struggling to move towards the school. He could feel the swelling corrupt his head, aware that Avikar was winning the fight internally, and he couldn't keep his defences up for much longer.<p>

He looked up at the school one last time before dropping on the soft grass. Avikar finally had knocked him out cold, but he could still delay Avikar from taking control of his body. It could mean the difference between saving his friends or having them killed.

_Ulrich was pinned up against the wall, holding Avikar's arm__. He struggled to escape Avikar's grasp, feeling the effects of taking blows at the control panel for the sake of his friends._

_Avikar could not comprehend why Ulrich was protecting his friends like this. But desired to get his body back, and could tell he was going to take it soon._

"_Before your body becomes mine again, I just want to know how did you tap into your Lyoko powers here?" Avikar enquired._

"_You put my friend's lives in danger, and I'll make sure you'll pay for it," Ulrich answered._

"_That's incomprehensible. But I'll make sure you won't interfere again, especially if I put your girlfriend in danger again."_

_Almost immediately, Ulrich blacked out with a powerful knock to his head. Avikar stared down at his unconscious form, smirking. Ulrich had been a major hinderence to his plans, but at least he won this important battle._

_Weaker clones of Avikar appeared, dragging Ulrich's unconscious form away. The real Avikar slowly walked up to the control panel, marvelling that all this power was at his fingertips once again. This time though, he didn't intend to lose that power._

"_Time to stop those pathetic humans."_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the Lyoko warriors have been sitting ducks, with Odd protecting Aelita from Pascal, while Yumi was deflecting the boulders thrown by Blaise. Although they didn't make any progress, they at least kept this mission alive to make sure they deactivate the tower.<p>

However, Jeremie was getting nervous. He knew they were running out of time. He knew they were stuck on Lyoko either saving their own skin or guarding Aelita. And it was a huge setback. The longer they were in this situation, the more time Avikar could rush to the Factory and potentially kill Jeremie.

In a blink of an eye, Jeremie noticed a figure making a presence on the security cameras. He looked at the footage, seeing Ulrich speeding into the Factory. Jeremie's worse fears had come true. The possessed Ulrich was coming to the Supercomputer Lab fast, and there wasn't much he could do about it.

Jeremie immediately began locking down the elevator while shouting into his headset, "Guys! Hurry up! Ulrich's coming!"

"Have you locked the elevator?" Aelita enquired.

"Yeah, but that's all I can do to hold him off. You have to do the rest fast before Ulrich reaches the Supercomputer!" Jeremie warned.

Odd sighed. He knew there was no way he could think of a safe plan quickly enough to get everyone out of their awkward positions to launch an offensive charge. He couldn't afford to put the mission in jeopardy after what Yumi had been through. His duty was to prevent Aelita from being devirtualized or thrown into the Digital Sea, not leave her unprotected.

The feline spun around, and to his horror, Aelita wasn't at his back. He immediately turned his head to the tower, spotting Aelita sprinting towards it. He shouted her name and rushed after her, hoping he could reach her before something disastrous happened.

Blaise heard Odd's voice, and turned her attention to the tower. Aelita was entering it, and she had to intervene. Blade stopped her onslaught on Yumi and ran to the tower. Yumi telekinetically held one of the plates of earth thrown at her. She took a deep breath, focused, and hurled the earth plate back at Blaise.

While that was happening, Jeremie checked the surveillance again. To his surprise, Ulrich already investigated the elevator and spotted another entrance to get into the Supercomputer Lab. How he managed to discover it so quickly Jeremie had no idea. The genius noted to make sure that pathway was covered by something to prevent intruders from getting through.

Jeremie was shaking, as his friends were cutting it very close again. He hoped they thought of a plan to deactivate the tower in a matter of seconds.

Blaise halted, realising she would be making a huge mistake charging after Aelita. She stopped the speeding plate in the air, making it drop down to the ground. Once it impacted on the earth, the ground shook. Odd hit the brakes to keep his balance, as the plateau began to tip to one side.

Odd reached out for the slope, with his claw digging into the earth, preventing him from slipping down into the Digital Sea. Yumi watched Blaise carefully, as she skidded down the new slope to the makeshift ramp that caused the slide.

When Blaise disappeared behind the plate ramp, Yumi prepared her attack. She thought it out quickly, imagining herself throwing her weapon at Blaise the moment she jumped from the ramp. She felt so confident that she had Blaise right where she wanted her.

Blaise rushed up the ramp and sprung up into the air. Yumi immediately threw one of her fans, watching it curve towards its target. Blaise smirked, swiftly spinning her body around. Twisting her body around, the fan narrowly missed her. Yumi was incredibly surprised, and threw her second fan to hopefully catch her while dodging her first attack.

Meanwhile, Aelita entered the interior of the tower. She immediately saw Pascal, grinning evilly at the guardian of Lyoko. Suddenly, he attacked with a high kick, aiming for Aelita's head. Aelita instinctively ducked, with her right arm high above her head.

Pascal's leg just missed Aelita's right wrist. However, that turned out to be a huge advantage. The kick just hovered over her star bracelet, inadvertently activating her wings. Aelita leaped up and began flapping her wings to pick up speed quickly.

Pascal jumped, in an attempt to grab her leg and to stop her from deactivating the tower. But he once again could not get a hold of Aelita. When he landed, he looked up, watching the girl fly up to the second floor of the tower. He punched the ground, frustrated that he couldn't prevent Aelita from deactivating the tower.

On Earth, Ulrich leaped down from the ceiling plane, landing on the floor of the Supercomputer Laboratory. Jeremie heard him land, and spun around on his chair just to make eye contact with his possessed friend. He would do anything to protect his friends still fighting on Lyoko, even to attempt to put up a fight against his friend.

He jumped out of his computer chair as Ulrich approached him. He was intimidated by Ulrich's height, build and his Xanafied eyes, but it didn't deter him to retreat. He knew he wouldn't delay him for long, but it could make a difference.

At the same time, Blaise focused her powers to remove the plate from the ground as she spun around. Then, using her momentum, she made the plate fly towards Yumi. With no time to drive the Overwing out of the range of fire, Yumi was instantly devirtualized.

Since the plate was removed, the plateau quickly stabilised itself. It became a flat plane, with no risk of anyone slipping down into the Digital Sea. Odd sighed in relief, glad that he wasn't going to fall into the Digital Sea. However, the thought of Aelita came to him. He sprinted towards the tower, hoping he wasn't too late.

Fortunately, Aelita was in the middle of deactivating the tower. She watched the screen display 'Code: Lyoko' on it. The data of the surrounding area descended, indicating to Aelita that the process worked. She proudly announced that the tower was deactivated.

However, Ulrich had seized control of the Supercomputer, typing on the keyboard at superhuman speeds. He grunted, then rushed to the ladder that lead to the scanner room. Jeremie picked himself up and ran to the Supercomputer, checking if he'd done anything hazardous to his projects.

Odd heard Jeremie made an exasperated sigh of relief while watching the smoke around the tower change from red to blue. Immediately afterwards, he sighted a disappointed Pascal running out of the tower. Blaise followed him, knowing they failed their mission. Disaster had been averted… for the time being. It was time for Odd and Aelita to return home.

"Everything's fine Einstein?" Odd enquired.

"Yeah, it looks like XANA knew he needed to keep ahold of Ulrich. So he activated a delayed virtualization to get him to Lyoko before he loses control," Jeremie answered.

"Damn it, I thought we were on time. At least we have Franz's program to fall back on. Anyway, are you going to bring Aelita and I home?" Odd asked.

"Sure- Wait. What about Yumi?" Jeremie questioned.

"I saw her get devirtualized. I thought you would know that-"

Jeremie ignored the rest of Odd's sentence and looked up at security footage. Yumi was resting in an open scanner, probably exhausted from her exploits on Lyoko. That set Jeremie to panic. She was in the least safe place of the Factory and Lyoko combined.

The genius ditched his headset and climbed down the ladder, hoping he wasn't too late. Odd called out for Jeremie to bring them back to Earth, but it was to no avail.

Yumi opened her eyes. She smiled, seeing Ulrich, unharmed, before her. His soft hazel eyes were telling her that he was grateful for the efforts she went through to save him. But she felt too exhausted to take a step out of the scanner.

"Ulrich, could you help me out?" Yumi enquired.

"Sure."

Then, she saw that smirk. That smirk Ulrich never had on his face. That smirk she saw when the possessed Ulrich ambushed her while in her bedroom. Only Avikar could move his facial muscles that way. With her body sore and tired and trapped in a cylinder shaped transporter, there was no escape.

Never had she felt more afraid in her life. Avikar was out for revenge. He could severely injure her. He could kill her. All while using her best friend's body to commit the crime. And this time, she knew Ulrich wouldn't be able to save her.

Ulrich approached her, growing in height and darkness. Yumi was cowering. She really was helpless, and there was nothing she could do to stop him from attacking her. He grabbed the collar of Yumi's shirt, lifting her by it only. It was like on the bridge, except she wouldn't have to fall far to hit solid ground.

She stared directly into his eyes, which had transformed into XANA symbols. She grabbed his arm out of her anxieties, struggling to free herself. His superhuman strength had clearly returned to him, and she was scared of the damage he could do to her.

"This," the possessed Ulrich hissed into her ear, sending tremors throughout her body hearing his distorted voice, "is for interfering with my plans!"

Suddenly, he dropped her to the ground. He grasped her shirt aggressively and violently heaved her out of the scanner. With the speed he pulled her out of there, she tripped the moment she made contact with the floor and landed on her shoulder. She gritted her teeth, not letting Avikar have a chance to have her beg for mercy.

Ulrich turned around, facing Yumi with a sinister expression. She knew he wasn't done with her yet. Attempting to get away from him, she tried sitting up. However, her shoulder was aching in pain, making her unable to get up as quickly as she would like to.

"Stop Avikar!" Jeremie's voice commanded.

Yumi was pleased that Jeremie noticed that she was in danger. At least, she was not going to get killed while one of her friends was around. She heard Jeremie's feet hit the steel floor, and looked up at him. He was drawing near Ulrich, and appeared very determined to protect her from any more harm.

"I never thought you would come down here after easily tossing you aside. But you are already too late," Ulrich declared, stepping back into the scanner.

"Then I just have to pull you out and let Ulrich reclaim his body!" Jeremie barked.

Jeremie reached out for Ulrich's shirt, hoping he would be able to use his remaining strength to get his body out of the scanner before heading to Lyoko. In spite of his efforts the scanner doors closed before Jeremie could get a fingertip inside the cylinder.

Hearing the scanner whir inside, Jeremie slammed his left fist on the door. He was so close to saving Ulrich; yet, a steel door was standing between him and his friend. They wouldn't need Franz Hopper's program if he was just a little bit faster.

Einstein turned around and ran to Yumi's side, hoping that she wasn't hurt too badly when she was brusquely thrown out of the scanner. Yumi sat up a little bit, feeling a sharp pain in her left shoulder. Jeremie asked for her permission to check the injury, which she allowed him to.

Jeremie pulled the collar of her shirt down enough to see her left shoulder. And all he could see was a large purple mark on left shoulder. He was slightly horrified to see Yumi bruised like this, but he had seen her in a worse state before.

"Yumi, this looks really serious. I'm going to get everyone back here to treat you. I'll try my best to get Franz Hopper to finish the program early to prevent something like this happening again," Jeremie stated.

"Alright. And thanks, for saving me," Yumi responded.

"You saved all of us first. I think we need to return the favour," Jeremie replied.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Jeremie and Odd were speaking to Franz Hopper. They were figuring out what to say to him, picking their words carefully to hopefully get the information they wanted to hear. To finish the program to save their friend the next day.<p>

Meanwhile, Aelita was wrapping a bandage around Yumi's left shoulder. Yumi was only in her light purple singlet to make it easier for Aelita to see the injury she sustained. The reason why she wanted a bandage to be wrapped around the bruise was to dampen her parents' and her brother's suspicions of keeping a secret from them. It was similar to what Ulrich did to them, and hopefully it would have the same effect.

Although relieved that this XANA attack was all over, she still felt horrible that she couldn't rescue her best friend in time. It was gut wrentching to think about what he was going through at the moment. And she was sure that Ulrich wasn't coping as long as Avikar still had possession of his body.

Jeremie and Odd jumped off the Supercomputer, with frowns on their faces. Yumi could tell that they couldn't convince Franz Hopper, despite what happened during the XANA attack, to have the program finished the next day.

Aelita just finished treating her injury when Jeremie called out for her name. It caught her attention immediately, but she was saddened to see Jeremie looked depressed about the situation.

"It didn't go as well, didn't it?" Aelita enquired.

"No. Franz Hopper said that even if he worked on it for the next twenty four hours, it would be impossible to complete," Odd answered.

"So, it means we have to keep our guard up tomorrow. XANA's attacks are getting more vicious and dangerous, and he seems determined to keep Ulrich on his side," Jeremie responded.

Yumi acknowledged Jeremie, finding herself feeling disappointed. She felt once again, afraid for her own life, aware of XANA's deadly attacks and his strategies. Tomorrow was going to be a long day for Yumi Ishiyama.

"Anyway, I'm looking forward to connecting my head to the pillow and getting some well needed rest," Odd declared.

"Good idea, we deserve the sleep," Jeremie replied.

The rest of the group agreed with the statement, and began their departure from the Factory. Odd was the least worried of a possibility of a XANA attack tomorrow, believing they could easily take care of it like all the other times.

Jeremie and Aelita were more concerned with the XANA attack. Having images of Yumi being dangled over the river over a deathly height by her possessed best friend left them worried about how brutal XANA would be in his next attack if he were to attack tomorrow. They hoped that he would not launch an attack tomorrow.

But Yumi was mostly scared of what could possibly happen on the next day. Avikar desired to have his revenge on her, and unlike some people who just give up so easily, he would not deter from his objective. That made Yumi petrified for her own life.

And if XANA were to attack the next day, abusing Ulrich's body, she wasn't sure if she'd come out alive on the other end of it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**s: **Wow, this is the longest chapter of Pretty Hate Machine. I'm glad this didn't go over 40 pages on Word or I would probably be considering cutting the chapter in half.

I hope the explanation about Ulrich being possessed by Avikar was enough. It can be confusing to get your head around, but then again, Avikar is one of XANA's agents so he does have some special powers.

Random fact: I handwrote most of the bridge scene, as the idea struck me during university and I was bored during one of my four hour breaks in between classes. I'm glad I did write this down too; otherwise the XANA attack would not have a lasting effect on Yumi in particular.

Yes, I had to have Blaise and Pascal make an appearance on Lyoko. Like the warriors they have their own special powers but obviously they would help XANA and Avikar if they're called to that duty.

So, I hope you liked this chapter, take the time to review it and look forward to the next one!


	9. Chapter 9: Away From Me

_Hey guys. Well, it's been a really long week for me, but most especially MoonlitxAngel. She's been going through a really rough time. So, if you have the time, it would be great to read and review her latest fanfic__, Darkened Moon Version 2. She would really appreciate all the support. Now, onto the story!_**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger makes it difficult to __be yourself._

**Chapter 9: Away From Me**

Yumi awoke from her slumber. But she barely got any sleep. Her heavily bruised left shoulder, as well as worrying thoughts about the possible XANA attack that could happen at any time during the day kept her awake at night.

She was surprised that she even woke up, blaming the sunlight finding a gap in the curtains. She slowly picked herself up and got changed out of her pyjamas. She seemed to move at a snail's pace, disturbed by the thoughts in her head. She couldn't stop thinking about Ulrich and how he was coping having someone control his every action, every word and every reaction.

"Yumi! Wake up! You're going to be late for school!" Akiko shouted.

Just as she put on the last of her clothing, Yumi yelled back, "I'm ready to go! I'll just grab a piece of toast!"

Yumi picked up her bag and exited her room in a flash. She scaled down the stairs quickly, and spent only three seconds in the kitchen, to grab something to keep her going. Once she grabbed the slice, she exited the kitchen, and the next thing her mother heard was her daughter closing the front door behind her.

Akiko stood there, stunned into silence. She grew concerned about her daughter, wondering why she didn't show her face in the home when she was awake until she left the house. Her maternal instincts kicked in, and believed that something was seriously wrong with Yumi.

Takeo entered the kitchen, and sat down at the table. He was dressed in his work clothes, with his tie resting around his collar untied. He didn't seem worried about anything, except getting to work on time.

"Takeo," Akiko called, with a hint of concern in her voice.

"Yes Akiko. Is something the matter?" Takeo enquired.

"I'm worried about Yumi. She only showed up to grab some toast and then exited the house. She left quite late too," Akiko responded.

"I really hope Ulrich's story did not make her feel horrible about herself," Takeo stated.

"It could have. His story was very… traumatizing. I'm surprised Yumi could sit through and listen to it all without feeling the same way," Akiko replied.

"She seemed fine when she retold Ulrich's story to me. But perhaps she was concealing her own feelings from us. And that is very unhealthy," Takeo declared.

"Let's try to discuss this with her when she comes home. We might find out if she feels that his story on her mind all the time."

"Alright. That's fine with me. So, is there anything other than toast for breakfast?"

* * *

><p>Yumi rushed into her classroom, almost certain that she was late for it. She was running on adrenaline to keep herself alert and awake for anybody and anything in her path that she came across. The XANA attack last night drained her energy and kept her paranoid for the future. She didn't feel safe entering the classroom, afraid that it could happen again.<p>

She opened the door to find every seat taken, except the seat next to William Dunbar. He was the last person she wanted to sit next to, but yet, she partly blamed herself because William was part of their group because of her. But it was only one class she had to sit next to him. She could deal with it.

Before taking one step towards her seat, Mrs. Meyer declared, "Yumi, you're lucky you just made it before I called the roll. Now take a seat, so I may start taking it."

Yumi acknowledged her teacher and approached her seat next to the former slave of XANA. He was very eager to see her; she could tell just by the way he looked at her. She placed her books on the desk, and took her seat.

As the teacher began calling names out, William enquired in a low voice, "What took you so long to get here today?"

"I slept in," Yumi answered.

As the teacher called William's name out, William announced he was here, then immediately focused his attention back to Yumi.

"Looks like you needed it. You have bags under your eyes," William whispered.

"Thanks for the complement," Yumi retorted.

Yumi then heard her name called out. She declared her presence, then attempted to organise her books. For her sake, she hoped William did not continue the conversation.

"Was there a XANA attack last night?" William asked.

Against her liking, he did continue the conversation with a question she didn't want to answer. She ignored him, getting out her graph book and opening it to the closest clean page.

"Yumi, can you please answer me. Was there a XANA attack last night?"

Yumi sighed, then responded with a tinge of annoyance in her voice, "Let's just focus on class today."

"Fine. Be that way. I still know the secret whether you like it or not, so you better tell me eventually," William stated.

"Is that a threat?" Yumi demanded.

"No, but it looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed as-"

"William! Stop speaking to Yumi or I'll send you out of the class!" Mrs. Meyer barked.

William glared at Yumi, then focused on the blackboard to get rid of whatever thoughts he had of her and Lyoko. Yumi was relieved that the teacher intervened and only caught William talking, as she was just about to explode. She was exhausted, and couldn't take anymore from the entire world.

As Mrs. Meyer began her lecture on Maths, Yumi felt her tiredness kidnap her head. Her mouth was dry, and her cheeks were turning red. She felt like she was ready to drop dead. It was almost like she didn't sleep at all last night.

But the teacher's droning voice kept her conscious, because she didn't want to get in trouble for snoozing off in class. She couldn't process much, except that they were on the topic of surds and she needed to pay attention to what the teacher was saying, aware that surds were difficult to calculate.

Then, her head drifted off to a place where she did not want to be…

**Flashback**

_Yumi was sleeping in her bed, tossing and turning.__ Not even bothering to change into her night clothes, she could hardly sleep, knowing Ulrich was under the control of Avikar. She kept on dreaming of the pain he was going through, as she grew so worried about his very wellbeing. Being aware of what happened that Friday night, she wondered how XANA heard of this story, or some of it, to be able to manipulate Ulrich to follow his orders of his own free will._

_Suddenly, she was in Ulrich's house. She was __in the doorway between the lounge room and the hallway. And Ulrich was fighting his father. Ulrich wrapped his arms around his father's shoulders, and used his weight to bring him down. She remembered Ulrich telling her about that part of the fight, then his father would pick himself up quickly._

_As Ulrich told her, his father seized the opportunity, rising up from the floor. He grabbed Ulrich by the collar of his blue pyjama shirt and lifted him off the ground. Then, he was suddenly shunted to the upper cupboard. Yumi couldn't believe she was watching all of this. Yet, she couldn't ignore what was happening._

_She didn't feel sad, she didn't feel sorry. Instead, she felt angry. Angry that his father easily abused Ulrich's weakness. Angry that he thinks he could do whatever he wants to with his family. Angry that he could control his family by violence._

_Then, she heard a thump, but it wasn't coming from what she was witnessing. She sat up suddenly, realising that she was having a nightmare… about Ulrich's night. But that was the least of her concerns. The window of her bedroom was open, and she remembered it being closed before she went to bed._

_Before she could attempt to stand up, a hand slapped over her mouth. Her intruder was right behind her and she could do nothing about it. She was afraid the person behind her was one of the people in her nightmare._

"_Hello Yumi," a distorted, yet familiar voice stated._

_Yumi immediately knew who it was, even if his voice was distorted. There was still a little bit of him left of him, even though he was controlled by Avikar._

"_Look here, you have a choice Yumi. You can scream and I'll snap your neck__ or you can remain silent so you can see your friends, so they can make that life or death decision themselves. Make that choice now," the XANAfied slave forced._

_Yumi noticed the human hand drop from her mouth. But to safely answer the question, she had to remain silent. She felt sorry for the possessed slave, knowing that he didn't want to do this to her, but __was forced to against his will._

_When he was satisfied with her answer, he placed a hand on her shoulder and declared, "Lead me to the bridge. If you utter a single word I will knock you out."_

_Yumi complied, and stood up from her bed. She turned to face the possessed slave, confirming her suspicions. The intruder was Ulrich Stern, the unfortunate victim to both his father's wrath and Avikar's manipulation. She couldn't bear to look into his eyes, knowing that his hazel eyes were replaced by XANA sigils._

_She spun around, and led the possessed Ulrich out where he came from to avoid waking her parents and her brother. There wasn't much she could do, except obey his orders, and figure out a plan to get out of this captivity._

"Yumi, are you okay? You look like you really need to go to the infirmary," William whispered, looking very concerned about Yumi.

Yumi realised she was back in reality upon hearing William's voice. A reality which she was glad to be in. But despite his concern, she didn't feel much, except she felt very hot. Burning, in fact.

"I'm fine-"

All of a sudden, reality blacked out for Yumi Ishiyama, as the last of her energy evaporated from her body.

* * *

><p>Yumi slowly opened her eyes to find herself staring up at the white ceiling. She was clueless as to where she was, but she felt comfortable and a lot better than she was before. In particular, she noticed that her lips and her mouth didn't feel dry at all and she was at normal temperature.<p>

Yumi sat up slightly, using the pillow as a rest for her lower back. From looking around the room, as she observed another bed, a table and some items with a red plus symbol on it, she realised she was in the infirmary. That explained why she was feeling a lot better than she was in class.

The nurse, Yolanda, entered the infirmary, sighing in relief. She approached the table, grabbing her clipboard with Yumi's medical record on it. She looked up at the clock and scribbled something on it.

"I'm glad you're awake Yumi. You frightened your classmates when you collapsed," Yolanda stated.

"How did that happen?" Yumi enquired, feeling that she had no memory of the incident at all.

"You were dehydrated and looked very tired. A recipe that could've landed you in hospital. Fortunately, you're not severely dehydrated," Yolanda answered.

"That's a relief. Thanks for looking after me. Can I head back to class?" Yumi asked.

"No. You're exhausted as it is, and I cannot allow you to push yourself in case another incident happens. I've already called your parents and your mother is picking you up soon," Yolanda retorted.

"Alright," Yumi responded distantly.

As Yumi finished her statement, the door slowly creaked open. It was the last person she wanted to see in that doorway. William Dunbar was there, with a bunch of roses in his hand, as well as a 'Get Well' card tucked in the wrapping. He was clearly overdoing things to get her attention.

"Am I allowed to speak to Yumi now?" William enquired.

"Sure. Can you please keep an eye out for her while I report to Mr. Delmas that Yumi is awake?" Yolanda asked.

"I'm happy to," William stated.

And the worse thing was, she had to be alone in the infirmary with him. Boy, her day could not get any worse than what it was at the moment. She was sure he was going to ask about the XANA attack again, and perhaps enquire what happened to Ulrich.

"Thanks, I'll see you soon," Yolanda said, and exited the room.

William placed the flowers on the table, resting them carefully against the wall. Then he grabbed a chair, and put it next to her bed, so he could be as close to her as possible, which annoyed Yumi. Then he sat down, deep in thought about what to ask her. Although, Yumi could already read his mind, he was so obvious.

"Yumi, I'm sorry to be rude, but can you answer that question for me? It's been on my mind, and I think by your reaction, I bet there was a XANA attack," William deducted.

"Fine," Yumi replied, irritated with William by his very presence, "There was a XANA attack last night."

"Why didn't you call me?" William asked.

"Because I was dangling over the edge of the bridge, so there's no way in hell I could've called you," Yumi answered.

"Okay. So why didn't anyone else call me?" William questioned.

"When they called me, they probably noticed I wasn't able to pick up my phone so they assumed that I was in trouble. And they were right."

"Why am I always the last to know about these things? I have every right to be in this group! XANA possessed me for a few months and took away my life! I deserve to fight him! I want to get the revenge I rightfully deserve!"

Yumi stopped herself from saying another word without thinking. William began to sound like Ulrich. Remembering Ulrich's intentions, to get revenge on his father for the abuse he and his mother suffered, put him in the situation he was in at the moment. Possessed by XANA, with no control of his thoughts or actions.

She could now come up with a reason why William shouldn't go to Lyoko. And it was legit too. Even though her closest friend suffered the consequences, she didn't want William to have the same fate as Ulrich.

"Seeking revenge is not the right thing to do William. It's a weakness XANA wants you to have," Yumi explained, thinking carefully about the next thing to say, "My parents told me, at a very young age, that revenge is a dark light that blinds all that see it. And when you do see it, you lose sight of everything else, and jeopardize everything you care about. You may be possessed by XANA, and I don't want that to happen to you again."

William put his head down for some time, then responded, "Alright. I understand. Can we talk, with the rest of the group, about when will be the right time for me to fight XANA again?"

"Sure, just talk to the rest of the gang about the idea," Yumi replied.

"Thanks. Anyway, I better head off. Recess is almost over," William stated.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Yolanda told me I'm going to be picked up."

"Right. I'll see you tomorrow."

William rushed out the door in a hurry to find the rest of the group. He at least wanted to let them know Yumi was in the infirmary so they would have the chance to see her before she went home.

Yumi smiled to herself, glad that William was now on the right path. She reached out for the bunch of roses, and pulled out the Get Well card from the string tying it to the flowers. She opened it and read it to herself while she waited for her mother to arrive.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, Yumi had returned to her sanctuary, her bedroom. Her mother turned up in the school infirmary just as she finished reading William's Get Well card. Yolanda promptly arrived in the room, letting Akiko know how to let her daughter recover from dehydration and lack of sleep. Akiko then was able to sign her daughter out of school and to take her home.<p>

Although they did walk home, Yumi was surprised her mother did not interrogate her about why she stayed up late or drink her fluids. She simply guessed that her mother would talk to her about it later in the day, when she was feeling slightly better.

Yumi was making her bed when her mother entered her room, with a drink bottle in hand. She knew what her mother wanted her to do without needing to hear her orders, but her mother was going to boss her around anyway. She knew it was just out of her concern for her health.

After her brief announcement, Akiko threw the drink bottle to her daughter. Yumi managed to catch it as her mother said, "Now get some rest darling. We would like you to make a speedy recovery."

Yumi acknowledged her mother's advice, and she closed the door behind her. Yumi grabbed a pen and her diary before putting herself in bed, wanting to write down her inner most thoughts. She couldn't sleep keeping it bottled inside.

She opened the pages of her diary, although she was just starting to get used to the flat pages of it. She had to replace her diary a couple of months ago because her annoying little brother thought he could get his crush to notice him by reading some of her secrets and revealing them to her. He ended up making the diary's paper too dirty to write on, and she almost neglected him for that act too.

As Yumi flicked through the pages, she noticed that she kept a very _striking_ photo of Ulrich safe within the pages of the new diary. She picked it up and stared at it. Memories were flooding her head of the day she took the photo. It was a week before school began for the new year, and Ulrich revealed he got a camera for his birthday. She reminisced mucking around with him and his new device, taking high quality photos of the forest.

While they were resting, Yumi thought it would be hilarious to take a photo of him while he lowered his guard. She managed to snap a shot of him, effectively startling him. But she never imagined that he would look so _attractive_ in the shot. He was almost like a model posing for a magazine, or even a centrefold. Ulrich allowed her to keep the photo, mainly because she took it and it was a good shot too.

With that memory of Ulrich echoing throughout her mind, she began writing her diary entry on a blank page. She made sure she wrote down every detail that she wanted in that entry. She wanted to recover as fast as she could, for tomorrow. For when the battle to save Ulrich from XANA's clutches would commence. The dehydration and her current tiredness was a blessing, as she could spend the day preparing for the events of tomorrow.

Once she finished her entry, pain shot through her right hand. She forgot how furiously writing a diary entry could cause such pain. But it was worth it. After all, she got all her thoughts down and she had a clear state of mind. However, she wanted to read it, to see how good the entry turned out. She stuck the photo of Ulrich below the entry before reading it out loud.

_Dear Diary,_

_For the past couple of days, I had lost myself. I lost myself to despair, sorrow and anger. When I saved Ulrich from that man, I had no idea what I was in for mentally. The story he told me took a lot out of me. A lot more than I thought. I had no idea that domestic violence could affect so many people, even those who weren't involved in it at all. I spent my days worrying about Ulrich, feeling sad that he had to suffer all of this. I took it upon myself to keep an eye out for him, to make sure he wasn't hurting himself. And when I found out I failed in that duty, I felt like I failed to protect a life I saved. The pressure really got to me. And it was evident the moment Ulrich got possessed by Avikar. I just felt sorry for him and I couldn't lift a finger against him. I felt so useless, so incompetent of helping a friend. My world just crashed down. Having a nightmare of Ulrich's night made me realise how could somebody not care for the lives of their family and still serve society as a top employee of the biggest bank in France. It really pissed me off. And I did my best to save him last night. But I failed, again. I was so frustrated that we couldn't free him earlier, and how XANA forced us to worry about him today. It was the last straw for me. XANA had effectively made me physically and mentally exhausted, and I paid the price for it. I lost my fearlessness. I lost my resolve. I lost myself. To anxiety. To my expectations. To be open. I had no idea how I would recover from this. But fortunately, William gave me a glimpse to what could happen to me. If I continued down this path, I would surely ended up the same as Ulrich. I saw that dark light, but it wasn't out of revenge. I was too hard on myself. I thought that if I didn't keep my guard up, XANA would pulverize me and my friends. But that wasn't the case. And now I need to use this time to my advantage. I need to begin looking after myself first, so I can help my friends. It sounds selfish, but it has to be done. I need to rest and drink as much water as I can today, so that I am ready to save Ulrich, even if that means I have to fight him. So be it. I've never felt so determined about going to Lyoko as I am now. Saving Ulrich means our group is unified. And I know if I fail in doing so, Jeremie, Aelita and Odd will know I have done my best. But I'm not going to fail a third time. I'm going to be the one who saves Ulrich, no matter how much it hurts. Because we need him back… I want him back._

_Yumi Ishiyama._

Yumi took a deep breath, feeling inspired. Her deepest and inner most feelings stirred Yumi up inside, especially when reading it out loud to herself. She felt ready to do whatever it takes to save Ulrich. And it had to begin at this moment.

She shut her diary, and placed it back on the shelf. She popped the drink bottle open, drinking some of the contents in the bottle. After feeling refreshed and calm, she lied down, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Suddenly, her phone went off. She groaned, frustrated that she was seconds away from nodding off. She quickly picked it up to read the text message sent to her. She grimaced at the message sent to her.

_We all wish u 2 get well soon!  
>Odd, Jer, Lita.<em>

On that high note, she finally felt peace return to her. She placed the mobile beside her bed, and relaxed herself. She fell asleep within a minute, with the affirmation that she was finally herself again.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**s: **Well, this chapter was different from the original plan.

First of all, dehydration is pretty serious, especially when somebody faints from it. Believe it or not, mild dehydration causes things such as insomnia and it negatively affects moods. So, drink your eight glasses of water. :)

Originally during the infirmary scene, William was meant to exit the room after Yumi told him off, and then Hiroki comes in and helps her recover. But then I thought after fainting and after I wrote William's dialogue, I thought I couldn't do that. So, William stuck around, ended up being a nicer guy about it and he could possibly join the gang. So I hope that makes William fans happy that I changed his mind about the role he would play in my fic.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter and look forward to reading the next one!


	10. Chapter 10: Not One to Choose

_Wow, I had to edit this chapter a lot! I hope I picked up on all the mistakes!_**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Sometimes, anger doesn't give me a choice. Rather, it decides my fate._

**Chapter 10: Not One to Choose**

The next day, during the lunchtime of Kadic Academy, the group rushed to the Factory. Jeremie received a message from Franz Hopper during one of his spares, announcing that he completed the program to free Ulrich. The group were very excited hearing the news, especially Yumi, who was ready for this moment.

The group promptly arrived, with Jeremie quickly getting Franz's window up to speak to him. The rest of the group huddled around Jeremie, waiting for the conversation with Franz to begin. They didn't want to rush into battle without receiving information about the program first.

Once the chat window was up, Jeremie immediately greeted Franz, hopeful to get his attention. He got a response immediately, making everyone behind him smile.

'_Hello Jeremie. I guess tha__t everyone is right behind you, right?'_

'_Yep. They're all here, waiting for what you're going to tell us about how this program works.'_

Jeremie had to wait a while for Franz's next response. So during the time, he cleared up the windows on the screen. Odd piped up, asking what he was doing. Aelita answered for Jeremie, knowing that he needed to focus on the screen in case her father's response pops up.

'_This is going to take some time to explain, so please focus on this. The reason why it took two days to complete is because the downloading process takes almost twenty four hours to complete. So even if the program was ready, downloading it to the Supercomputer from my location without being noticed by XANA takes a long time. With that being said, the process has finished, and now each of your friends is armed with the program to free Ulrich. But, each of them only has one shot of the program. So, they have to time their attacks carefully. And speaking of attacks, the program only activates if they attack a certain way. My daughter need to charge up her __energy field to the strongest charge, Yumi has to use her left fan, while Odd has to reload his arrows before firing the one with the program in it. When they've activated the program, their items will change colour. Does everyone understand?'_

Jeremie highlighted the part his friends needed to read, and allowed them to read the highlighted parts. Yumi was first to read and understand Franz's explanation, however, it did leave her concerned for her own combat abilities. She hadn't fought with one fan in over a year, and it would be difficult to get accustomed to that fighting style again. Aelita finally got the idea how her attack worked thanks to her father's second to last sentence. She felt confident that she'll know the right time to release the fully charged energy field.

Odd on the other hand, was a little bit puzzled how his program activated. Jeremie ended up explaining how it worked to save some time chatting to Franz. Odd was relieved Jeremie spoke in clear, concrete English instead of the scientific English he was so used to hearing, and understood it completely.

'_Yes. So, do we need to wait until Ulrich shows up?'_

'_Actually, your friends need to head to Lyoko right away. You know the area in Carthage you had to rebuild where you had to install security fields?'_

'_Yeah?'_

'_My computer just picked up an attack there. I think XANA wants to access it to locate me, because it's pretty much an easy way to find out.'_

Jeremie panicked, and immediately ordered his friends to head to the scanners. He told them that Ulrich was most likely leading the attack before they rushed downstairs.

Just as the elevator closed upon the trio, Odd stared at Yumi, trying to read from her face any sort of hesitation she might have fighting against Ulrich. Being aware of how close the two of them were, he was concerned Yumi could be unfit in combat because of her relationship with Ulrich.

Even though he couldn't see a sign, he could tell Yumi was hurting inside just of the thought of fighting him. Deep inside, he wanted to save Yumi from the pain, and let himself take care of battling his roommate.

"Yumi," Odd called.

"Yes?" Yumi acknowledged.

"Let me and Aelita take care of Ulrich. I'm sure you don't want to fight him under these circumstances," Odd stated.

"I'm fine. He's been controlled against his will to fight us. I have to be prepared to fight him, whether I like it or not," Yumi replied.

"Alright. Just call us if you need help," Odd responded.

Yumi nodded, then faced the elevator doors. Odd had a point though. What happened if she was in the moment, fighting Ulrich, when she freezes up and let him have the fatal blow on her? She had to do whatever she could to avoid her emotions getting in the way of the fight.

Jeremie watched his friends via security camera enter the scanners, primed to send them to Lyoko. He began the virtualization process, typing hastily to send his friends to Lyoko as fast as possible. Jeremie felt beads of sweat already trailing down his face, knowing how crucial it was to defend that part of Sector 5.

As he was typing up the co-ordinates, he received another message from Franz Hopper. He finished typing up the scanner process, then looked at the message.

'_Will any of your friends have trouble fighting Ulrich?'_

Jeremie bit his lip. One person predominately popped up in his head. He pushed the thought away for the time being, pressing the key that would virtualize his friends onto the digital world. Jeremie then responded to Franz, forcing himself to let Franz know of his warriors' weaknesses.

'_Yumi. She is very close to Ulrich. But despite this, I believe she'll find a way to overcome this. She always does.'_

* * *

><p>The group found themselves in Sector 5. However, they were unfamiliar of this area of the sector. They looked at their surroundings, trying to at least familiarise themselves with the area, apart from the blue and bumpy walls.<p>

It was a rather narrow area, almost completely covered in darkness. There was light down the corridor, the only light this place had. It was scary if anybody was claustrophobic or scared of the dark, but none of them felt fear. They felt uncertainty.

Yumi drew out her fans, and noticed a huge difference in colour between the two. The fan she drew out in her right hand was normal. The blade was silver, and it had reflected some of the light at the end of the tunnel. However, the fan in her left hand displayed a cryptic shade of green. Yumi was startled seeing this, but at least she could tell the difference between which fan had the program. She withdrew the fan in her left hand into the pouch on her back, to avoid accidentally using it in combat.

"Hey Einstein, where are we?" Odd demanded.

"You're in a restricted part of Sector 5. Usually, you can't access it normally. The only way you can get here is either by being virtualized here or transported here," Jeremie answered.

"So how did XANA find this place?" Aelita questioned.

"I have no-" Jeremie began, but stopped himself from speaking.

Just as he said those words, he realised how XANA knew the location of this hidden place in Sector 5. He came to the conclusion that XANA would go to any lengths to get information, just as long as he came out the other end victorious.

"Jeremie, is something wrong?" Aelita enquired.

"Yeah, because I think I know why XANA wanted Ulrich in the first place," Jeremie replied.

"So his possession was not out of convenience?" Yumi asked.

"Mhm. Before Lyoko was completely reconstructed, I needed to place a section in Sector 5 that cannot be accessed unless you're virtualized or transported there. It's because so many important communications devices are there, including the one that lets me speak to Franz Hopper without being picked up by XANA. So I installed it, but I needed someone to investigate whether somebody could get in or not. So, I asked all of you, stating that it was an experiment. Ulrich volunteered, and checked for me on Lyoko. He said it was all clear. Then I showed him the area you are in at the moment. While possessing Ulrich, I think XANA found that image in his memories and used it to find out where he could find the information to finish his search for Franz Hopper. I should've known that was XANA's intention all along," Jeremie explained.

"How come you and Ulrich didn't tell us about it?" Aelita enquired.

"I thought since Ulrich didn't find any gap in the defences, I told him not to think about it too much. But it looks like XANA exploited that weakness. I'm sorry guys, I didn't see that possibility happening," Jeremie apologised.

"Well, let's fix this mistake by saving Ulrich. Let's go!" Yumi shouted enthusiastically and sprinted off.

Odd and Aelita were surprised at Yumi's eagerness to save Ulrich. But they didn't think too much on it, running after her towards the light. Jeremie was a little bit shocked at Yumi's reaction, but smiled. She was finding her way out of this rut, and Jeremie knew it. She _always_ finds a way to complete the objective when the going gets tough.

* * *

><p>Moments later, the trio entered the room in a rush. But they had to stop immediately to take in the sight before them. There were heaps of monsters, all directing their fire at the security force field. The field was standing quite strong, but they knew it wouldn't last forever. And who other than the possessed Ulrich Stern to lead the attack on the last line of defence.<p>

Ulrich was dressed in brand spanking new dark attire. It was a black skin tight body suit with grey stripes along the sides of his body. He wore light armour as well, equipped with grey shin and arm guards. His sword cases were at belt level, for quicker access drawing the weapons out. In the middle of his chest the XANA symbol was glowing bright orange, indicating that Avikar had full control of Ulrich. By the looks on Ulrich's expression, he was looking forward to seeing them.

"Well, isn't it the whole gang? Minus Belpois, who doesn't have the balls to step foot on the battlefield," Ulrich stated.

The group were shocked hearing that this possessed Ulrich had some attitude. Yumi immediately guessed that Avikar was the main cause of this rude and ruthless behaviour expressed by the possessed Ulrich. After all, Avikar did have some personality of his own.

"You should appreciate us getting here. It looks like you really wanted to see us," Odd declared.

"That's right Catman. And you know what? I'll take care of you all by myself, just like last time. I've still got all your powers, so it shouldn't be too difficult," Ulrich announced, drawing out one of his blades.

Yumi took up a fighting stance, ready for combat. Although, she was afraid she was going to be taken out on the spot. Avikar had an agenda against her; she destroyed his body by pushing it telekinetically to the Digital Sea while trying to save Ulrich from being possessed. She also thwarted his plan, by managing to draw the real Ulrich out while being held in a hostage situation. This time, it was going to be difficult to draw Ulrich out, knowing she could be devirtualized if she made one wrong move.

When Ulrich began to approach them, he abruptly clutched his head with his spare hand. The three warriors were surprised that this happened right now, and not in the thick of battle. They knew the Ulrich they know was interfering with Avikar's control of his body, but they kept their distance just in case Avikar did break free.

"_Can't you just stay put? Stop getting in the way!" Avikar barked, grabbing onto Ulrich's shoulders tightly._

"_I can't let you hurt my friends! And I'll do whatever in my power to stop you!" Ulrich shouted, also grasping Avikar's shoulders._

"_It's because I wanted to attack Yumi first? So if I aimed for your other friends, you would allow me to attack them," Avikar stated._

"_No way in hell! Oh, and attacking Yumi is a good idea," Ulrich responded, leaning towards the control panel, "Just as long as I don't run too fast, she should be able to take care of me."_

Suddenly, Ulrich composed himself and sprinted towards the group. The tactic took the trio by surprise, clearly seeing that possessed Ulrich was getting too cocky. Yumi winked at Aelita before focusing intently on Ulrich, with her arms outstretched in front of her.

Yumi spent her energy attempting to lift up Ulrich while in motion, while Aelita began charging up her large energy field. She knew there wasn't going to be another opportunity like this, with the monsters distracted to bring the barrier down and the possessed Ulrich's cockiness brought him to this situation. Odd meanwhile was shooting at the weaker monsters, destroying them quite easily while they had all their attention on the barrier.

Ulrich then suddenly shot up, with his legs dangling in the air with no ground to push himself closer to the group. Yumi made sure her telekinetic focus remained strong to prevent Ulrich from dropping to the floor. Aelita finished charging up her energy field, and looked prime to fire it. It looked too easy for the group to finish off Ulrich's misery under Avikar's control.

Once noticing the energy field change colour from pink to green, Aelita threw it at the helpless Ulrich. Ulrich smirked, aware that Aelita made a huge mistake. But he needed to deal with something extremely important first. He was going to cut it very, very close.

_Avikar kicked Ulrich in the gut, forcing him to let go and stumble backwards. __Ulrich landed off the platform of the control panel back first. As he attempted to pick himself up, Avikar shot him with a blast of lightning, effectively knocking Ulrich out cold._

_Avikar quickly fiddled with the control panel, finding the switch he needed to activate. He grinned, knowing he just made it in time._

Suddenly, the energy field curved away from Ulrich and headed directly to Yumi. Yumi had to break concentration to avoid getting vaporised by the deadly energy field. Ulrich dropped to the ground, watching Yumi jump out of the way of the attack.

He seized that opportunity, only using his mental power to give Yumi a taste of her own medicine. Yumi could do nothing to stop him as she rose off the ground and into mid-air. And now, she felt like she was in huge trouble.

Aelita was frustrated that her chance of freeing Ulrich from possession was wasted. However, her main priority now was to save Yumi. But she could not directly attack Ulrich, knowing that her energy fields would be redirected and most likely hit the helpless Yumi.

Then, she noticed Odd, who was totally oblivious to what just happened behind him. He was doing the group a favour of eliminating the unsuspecting monsters one by one, but couldn't see the disaster unfolding behind him.

"Odd! Yumi needs your help!" Aelita called.

Odd spun around, with the first thing he saw was Yumi suspended in the air. Odd fired a laser arrow at Ulrich, hoping it would be enough to disturb his focus. Unfortunately, he was aiming for the right side of his body, which was Ulrich's sword arm.

Ulrich picked up the laser arrow piercing the air and swang his blade to the side. The arrow deflected off the sword, heading back in Odd's direction. Odd crossed his arms and shouted the magical _s word _to activate his shield. The arrow dispersed the moment it made contact with the shield.

Once he let down his shield, he witnessed Ulrich shunt his left hand. Yumi flew up to the ceiling, hitting it violently. Aelita activated her wings to catch Yumi on the descent. Ulrich smirked, charging an energy field in his left hand. He had the girls exactly where he wanted.

Odd launched himself at Ulrich, tackling him at the waist. The energy field was shot nowhere near the girls, allowing Aelita to catch Yumi without any mishaps. The boys skidded across the ground, with Ulrich elbowing Odd in the stomach. Then, using his strength, he stood up and activated his super sprint.

Odd was immediately thrown off, but landed on knees. He watched Ulrich ran up the wall thanks to his momentum, and could predict what he was about to do. Ulrich sprung from the wall, preparing to attack. Odd lowered his head and crossed his arms over his head just as Ulrich hovered over.

Ulrich slammed his blade on Odd's shield, almost penetrating it. Luckily, Odd held his position, and pushed his shield up. Ulrich was caught off balance and was sent flying away from Odd.

While that action was happening, Aelita dropped Yumi to the ground. Yumi felt a little sting, but she was fine and still on Lyoko. She could hardly believe she wasn't devirtualized. She was curious about how many life points she had left, knowing she had a shot of the program.

"Yumi, you have fifty life points left. Try not to get devirtualized," Jeremie warned.

"Right, I'll do my best," Yumi responded.

Yumi watched Ulrich landed perfectly on his feet and immediately threw an energy field. Odd defended himself once again, then quickly fired another arrow. It was stalemate, with no side able to make a move on each other.

Aelita noticed that both the boys were totally focused on each other. She could understand why too. Any break in their attacks could cause their opponent to win the battle. Despite wanting Odd to win this fight, Ulrich was going to last longer than Odd just because he's possessed by a non-human entity.

She thought of an idea to help Odd, because he could not win against a fight against Ulrich alone. Fortunately, the monsters haven't been given the order to fire on them yet, so it was just them and Ulrich. She whispered to Yumi the plan, understanding immediately what to do.

Yumi ran up behind Ulrich, hoping she wasn't spotted in his peripheral vision. Ulrich didn't react towards her, so it was a good sign. She just hoped she didn't distract Odd, who was probably wondering why was she behind Ulrich.

Suddenly, she latched herself onto Ulrich, with one arm in a chokehold around his neck, while the other was wrapped around his sword arm. Odd was caught by surprise, but was extremely glad she intervened. He was getting tired of the repetitive process of putting up his shield, then attacking, and doing it all over again.

Ulrich growled, charging an energy field in his free hand. Yumi knew if he was given enough time, she would be on top of his list of people to devirtualize. However, she had to hold her ground or that would be giving Ulrich freedom.

Just as he was about to swing his arm across his body, Aelita grappled onto his left arm. It preventing Ulrich from attacking Yumi and effectively trapped him. He was now the perfect target for Odd, who only needed one arrow to free Ulrich from being possessed.

Odd was slightly nervous, knowing he only had one shot to free his roommate. He reluctantly reloaded his arrows, arming himself with the arrow with the program. As he was aiming at the struggling Ulrich, he thought of how this could all end right now. He could spare Yumi facing Ulrich in battle, fulfilling one of his primary objectives.

He took a deep breath and fired the arrow infected with the program. Yumi and Aelita held Ulrich tighter hearing the arrow go off. They did not want Ulrich to escape knowing that they were so close to setting him free.

Abruptly, Ulrich placed all his weight on his right foot and bent the upper half of his body. Yumi was thrown off Ulrich's back, with his sudden momentum forcing her to let go of him. Ulrich swang Aelita in front of him, smirking at his little victory. Aelita received the blow from Odd's arrow, which made Odd grunt in frustration that Ulrich would pull off such a dirty tactic.

To further add salt in the wound, Ulrich lunged his blade into Aelita's stomach. She was immediately devirtualized. Odd was further aggravated and fired rapid laser arrows at Ulrich. Ulrich super sprinted away from Odd's line of fire and ended up at the entrance of the door. Yumi sat up, and stared at Ulrich's position. She had a bad feeling what was about to happen next.

Ulrich pointed to Odd and Yumi, commanding, "Monsters, fire upon them!"

Yumi picked herself up and sprinted alongside Odd. They immediately took cover behind a small pillar as the monsters fired a barrage of lasers. They heard Ulrich's blades strike the barrier between him and finding the location of Franz Hopper, knowing he could probably take down the barrier faster than the monsters could.

Odd stared at Yumi, feeling disappointed that he couldn't free Ulrich for her. He knew it was going to be difficult for her to fight Ulrich, and wished he could take her place. Suddenly, an idea did pop into his head. Perhaps he could take her place after all.

"Yumi, let me borrow the fan with the program in it. I can fight Ulrich for you," Odd proposed.

"No. I have to face him myself," Yumi stated, "It's up to me now to save him."

"Well, I won't do anything to change your mind. What should we do?" Odd enquired.

"You distract the monsters, while I head for Ulrich," Yumi answered.

"That sounds simple enough. Well, good luck against Ulrich, you'll probably need it!" Odd shouted.

Odd leaped in front of the monsters from his hiding spot, taunting them to follow him. He led the monsters quite easily away from the block Yumi was hiding behind. Once she felt that the coast was clear, she peaked around the corner, observing Ulrich bashing the barrier. He seemed to be making progress on it, concerning her slightly.

She thought about throwing the fan with the program within it, but each time she thought that doing that simple action was suspiciously too easy, they always failed to land that all important blow onto Ulrich. She decided against it, even though she had a clear shot at Ulrich. Knowing her bad luck, she didn't even want to try it, especially because she had the last dose of the program.

All of a sudden, she sprinted from behind the block. With adrenaline coursing through her veins, she was aware of the risk she was taking. She already lost fifty life points, and couldn't afford to lose fifty more. She was jeopardising the mission, knowing that Ulrich had eyes at the back of his head and could slash her easily.

Yumi hit the brakes five metres away from Ulrich, and focused on it. It didn't take her long to get a telekinetic lock on, and forcibly she threw him away from the barrier. Ulrich hit the floor back first, but immediately sprung back up. This time though, he kept his gaze on Yumi.

She froze the moment she stared at him, and asked herself…

_Am I really ready to fight him?_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**s: **Cliffhanger! Boy I love putting those in the story.

I know the secret area in Carthage was dropped in really suddenly, but it does assert the point that XANA wants Franz Hopper destroyed. Plus it does add another dimension to XANA's attack where he had Avikar possess Ulrich so he could use him as a pawn to lead the attack on the barrier.

When being possessed by Avikar, I thought Ulrich should incredibly rude and inconsiderate towards his friends. So personally I really enjoyed his introduction in his new suit.

Also, I wanted to change things up from the norm. So, I had Aelita get devirtualized. She's never really been devirtualized on Lyoko with the exception of Hard Luck where she was taken out by the bug before she could reach the tower. So I thought that would be different.

Anyway, before I sign off, I'm planning a FAQ like section at the end of the final chapter. This is where you can ask me questions about the development of this story and how I inteperate the characters. You can ask me questions **via Private Message (PM)** to avoid spoiling the fic for others. So, I hope you guys are willing to ask me a few questions.

So, I hope you like this chapter enough to review and I'll see you next week!


	11. Chapter 11: Head Like a Hole

_Well, I got more huge news regarding this fic. It now has over 2,000 hits, which is absolutely amazing. Thanks to all who have read it so far!_**  
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**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger makes me vulnerable, making my head like a gaping hole to let in darkness… or light._

**Chapter 11: Head Like a Hole**

"Well, this would be the third time I've defeated you," Ulrich began, "The first time you didn't stand a chance, and the second time you didn't even put up a fight."

Yumi was a little bit surprised the possessed Ulrich wanted to speak to her. She felt slightly calmer knowing that he wouldn't slice her up right away, although, she could sense that he would want to very soon.

"And I won't lose this time," Yumi stated boldly.

"Indulge me. Why do you think you can win against me?" Ulrich enquired.

Yumi bit her lip, unsure how to answer him. She knew she couldn't rely on her determination alone to win this battle. She had to think of something out of the ordinary, something extraordinary. Something that could allow her to win this very important fight.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. It was incredibly risky, but if it provoked him, it might just give her the edge. But she was very reluctant to put this plan into action, knowing she was jeopardising the mission.

She dropped her fan to the floor, making herself look completely defenceless. The possessed Ulrich was taken by surprised by her actions. But soon enough, he cracked up laughing.

"Wow, did you really think you can beat me without your very weapons? You must be dreaming!" Ulrich bellowed.

"C'mon Ulrich, don't you want to spar with me, just like old times?" Yumi questioned cheerily.

Yumi felt nervous. She was aware she couldn't stop Ulrich without her weapons if this idea didn't go according to plan. She hated to gamble this last chance away, but she knew it was the only way that she could fight him alone.

Ulrich was about to burst into laughter again when suddenly he dropped his blades. His hands immediately clutched his head, trying to suppress the pain. Something was going on inside his body, and Avikar didn't like it one little bit.

_Avikar felt his back connect with the dark wall and fell on his hands and knees. He looked up to see Ulrich controlling his own body again. He growled, annoyed that when he was around Yumi, Ulrich always interferes._

_As he tried to get __back to his feet, Ulrich found the switch and pushed it away from him. Avikar knew what was about to happen, and it he to stop it somehow._

"_No! Stop meddling!" Avikar shouted._

Ulrich sprinted towards Yumi, launching his attack upon her. Yumi braced herself, expecting the worse to happen. However, she believed her plan was working. She just hoped it wouldn't backfire on her.

Abruptly, Ulrich threw a closed fist punch, which Yumi easily saw coming. She blocked the attack with her arm, twisting it slightly to feel less pain. Then she shunted his face with an open palm attack, pushing him back.

Ulrich attempted swing his leg at her. However, Yumi caught his left ankle in its ascension. She pushed him back, forcing him to hop on one leg, trying to keep his balance. Yumi saw a huge opportunity, and she had to take it.

Yumi charged for her vulnerable possessed friend, believing that she could end this soon. Even though he didn't put up much of a fight, she could understand why the real Ulrich wanted to lose this fight purposely to her. After all, it wasn't about pride. It was about freedom.

As soon as Yumi lunged for Ulrich, he somehow managed to place his left foot on the ground just in the nick of time. He then grabbed Yumi's shoulders, while Yumi had grasped his. They were in a deadlock, with no one letting up. Although, Yumi quickly realised that Avikar was fully back in control of Ulrich.

Suddenly, she felt like she was sliding back. It was only slight, but it meant that she was losing this battle. There was no way she could outmuscle Ulrich, especially while he was possessed by Avikar. She had to break the stalemate fast, or she would collapse and lose this very important fight.

"Ulrich," Yumi began, "Please remember all the good times we had while sparring each other. I can't beat Avikar by myself."

Ulrich gloated, "Begging for your precious Ulrich to come through for you? That's rich! No wonder why you're so dependant on him! You should learn to fight alone, knowing that he won't help you!"

"_At least she gives a damn about me!"_

_Ulrich punched Avikar, drawing him away from the control panel. Using the left side of his body, he immediately swung his leg around, connecting perfectly with Avikar's face. Avikar was knocked to the ground, a few metres away from the control panel._

Yumi felt Ulrich's grip weakening on her shoulders. She let go of Ulrich's shoulders and pushed him back. His hands were ripped from her shoulders as he tried to maintain his balance. Yumi was unsure whether she should approach him again, knowing that Avikar could have recovered from the blow.

_Avikar picked himself up. He saw Ulrich at the control panel, probably trying to find the switch that made him fall backwards. Avikar couldn't allow that to happen. He charged towards Ulrich, with his desperation fuelling him._

_XANA's agent brought his arm around Ulrich's neck, pulling him away from the control panel. He held Ulrich's left arm behind his back, to prevent him for reaching out to the panel. Ulrich felt his energy depleting rapidly, losing circulation to his head. All of a sudden, he felt dizzy, almost like he was experiencing vertigo._

_Blinking rapidly, he attempted to stay conscious. He had to. Yumi needed him, more than ever. She knew he was there, struggling against Avikar for control of his body. And even though she couldn't do much from where she was, Ulrich forced himself to remember those memories, those good times._

_Being possessed by Avikar brought him only darkness, with the recent memory of his father beating his mother and almost killing him being repeated to him by Avikar over and over again, he felt like there was no light in his life. But each time he heard Yumi's voice, whether when he was forced to dangle her over the edge of the bridge or when he beat her against his will, he felt like he was brought back to life._

_Each time he blinked, he attempted to reminisce the time they had spent together. The time when they first sparred, to the times where he had a good laugh with her, to the times he supported her, and the kiss that almost happened. Flooded with those thoughts, he felt his strength return to him. There was no way he wanted to give up on Yumi, especially since she was saving his life._

Yumi noticed that Ulrich quickly got his balance back. She was relieved that she didn't sprint towards him like last time. However, Ulrich was approaching her fast, and she had no idea what to do next. She wanted to grab the fan containing the program in it from her pouch, but if she missed him she was putting the entire mission at risk.

_Ulrich slammed his elbow into Avikar, forcing him to let go of Ulrich. He spun around and kneed him in the stomach. To finish off his attack, he lifted up his right leg and threw a very powerful kick to Avikar's head. Avikar was knocked back quite easily, allowing Ulrich to focus on the control panel._

As Ulrich closed the gap between them, Yumi spotted that he was going off to the side slightly. Yumi was unsure whether it would be best to draw out her all important weapon. When Ulrich was only two metres in front of her, she raised her arm up at Ulrich's neck level and closed her eyes.

She felt a huge thump on her arm, shaking her on the inside. She opened her eyes to see her possessed friend violently falling to the floor, hitting it back first. She was slightly overwhelmed by seeing Ulrich collide with her arm hazardously, but she had to seize this opportunity.

Yumi quickly pinned his body down, pressing her knees on his legs and her hands on his shoulders. With her entire body weight on him plus a little extra pressure, it reminded her of the end of their first Pencak Silat lesson together. She won that one if it wasn't for Jim interrupting. She managed to get Ulrich to the ground and stared deeply into his eyes. And that's when the spark was made.

_Ulrich looked behind him, seeing Avikar attempting to get to his feet. Avikar was on his last legs, having to spend his energy controlling Ulrich's body while fighting Ulrich was difficult. He stared at the boy angrily, knowing that it was he that ruined his plans, along with Yumi Ishiyama, who knew how to provoke him._

_He did not put into equation how two mortal beings could support and motivate each other to keep on fighting, even if it meant fighting each other. Avikar wished he was strong like XANA, who could easily repress any sort of resistance coming from Ulrich Stern. However, Ulrich was very much immune to possession by XANA due to the amount of times he'd been to Lyoko. Even though this was XANA's only option, to send one of his agents to possess Ulrich, it was better than not possessing him at all._

"_Boy! Don't you want to kill me right now?" Avikar asked, making a blade appear at Ulrich's feet, "After all you've been through thanks to me, don't you want to release your anger and finally get your revenge?"_

_Ulrich perked up at interest at the suggestion. He could finally release his inner feelings, and not be burdened by thoughts of his father bashing his mother. Ulrich picked up the blade, slowly approaching Avikar. He could feel that very hatred pulsing throughout his body, ready to be released._

_Avikar lowered his head, knowing that this was the end of his possession of Ulrich. He balanced himself, kneeling before Ulrich as he appeared to worship the body's true owner. But he managed a smirk across his dial, enjoying how this would all end._

_Ulrich pointed the blade to Avikar, gazing at him. He wanted to kill Avikar through the hardships he'd been through. He hated Avikar for almost getting his way by dangling Yumi over her watery death, he hated Avikar for taking advantage of him and most especially, he hated Avikar for controlling his body._

_Although Ulrich wanted to strike him down so badly, he hesitated. A new thought came to his head, a thought that questioned that if this death would solve anything in Ulrich's life. Ulrich breathed heavily, trying to focus on the answer to that question._

_No, Avikar's death wouldn't change anything in Ulrich's life. The only thing he had to gain was his body, and even though that was a huge thing, having a body back was the least of his concerns. His father would still be the same person. There wasn't enough evidence to mount upon his father yet. And most especially, the memory of that night would still remain._

_Ulrich lowered his blade, staring down at Avikar. There was nothing Avikar's death would change. He remained still, watching Avikar carefully._

"_Why won't you put me out of my misery Ulrich?" Avikar enquired._

"_Because revenge won't make my life better than it is now," Ulrich declared._

"_Then… if you don't have the balls to kill me… I'll just have to make sure you'll regret your decision!" Avikar bellowed._

_Suddenly, Avikar leapt towards Ulrich. Ulrich swung his sword like a baseball bat, hitting Avikar with the flat of it. He spun around and sprinted back towards the control panel. Avikar could easily take him out at this moment, and he needed to let Yumi know._

Yumi felt Ulrich's body seizing up underneath her hands. She knew something was going on inside, and she had to stop it at this moment. Without any hesitation, she slowly pulled out the fan with the antibodies within it. She hoped Avikar wasn't in control of Ulrich's body, otherwise he might've easily seen it and do whatever in his power to disarm Yumi.

Fortunately, there had been no retaliation from Ulrich yet. She moved the fan, which would be now visible in Ulrich's sight. She was so worried that Avikar may all of a sudden overwhelm her and ruin her chance to free Ulrich.

"Yumi," a weak, yet desperate voice called out for her.

Yumi noticed that it was Ulrich communicating to her. The real one, not Avikar. She was so relieved to hear his undistorted voice, yet she knew there wasn't a lot of time left, knowing that Ulrich was probably fighting off Avikar for her.

"_Save me_," Ulrich pleaded.

Yumi nodded, and slashed her weapon across his body. The antibodies rushed into his gaping wound, killing off Avikar's infection inside Ulrich's body. Yumi stood up off Ulrich's body, as he began to clutch his head. He was already feeling the effects of the antibodies setting him free from Avikar's grasp. Even though it was a painful process, and difficult to watch, Yumi told herself that the pain would go away soon.

"_Argh! What is this pain?" Avikar screamed, holding his own body._

_Ulrich watched Avikar yelp in pain, as he was attacked by the antibodies in Yumi's fan. He soon hit the ground, trying to attack the antibodies, but to no avail. The antibodies were concentrated to destroy Avikar and the rest of him inside Ulrich's body._

_Avikar squirmed as the antibodies drained his powers. Ulrich approached him, wondering when the antibodies would leave him alone, or at least, give it a rest. Soon enough, the antibodies retreated from Avikar and jumped up into Ulrich's blade. The blade happily absorbed the antibodies, making it glow green._

_XANA's agent panted heavily. He was practically half dead, and his body was screaming in pain. But he was still alive unbelievably. Avikar looked up at Ulrich, quivering in fear noticing that his blade had the antibodies within it._

"_Ulrich, b-boy. I-I beg you. P-Please spare me. I can h-help you g-get what you want. I-I won't t-take control of your body. Please," Avikar pleaded._

"_You know what Avikar... You had me fooled back there for a moment. And yet, you want me to forgive you after you betrayed me twice? I don't forgive betrayals," Ulrich hissed._

"_So, you're still killing me out of revenge?" Avikar asked, smirking._

"_No, that's where you're mistaken," Ulrich responded, "Your single death won't change a thing in my life, except I get my body back. I still have to deal with my father, and I'm still fighting XANA."_

"_What is it then?" Avikar enquired._

"_Your death is my freedom. So, goodbye Avikar," Ulrich answered._

_Letting out a battle cry, he plunged his sword into Avikar's chest. Avikar let out a deafening scream, feeling the antibodies killing him from the inside out. He glared at Ulrich with absolute hatred, desiring to kill him._

"_This is far from over Ulrich. You've only scratched the surface about your father's unethical experiments. And if you're going to find out more, you have to go through Blaise and Pascal!" Avikar yelled._

_He laughed diabolically until he dispersed from sight, leaving Ulrich wondering. Ulrich realised that he only won the battle, but not the war against XANA and possibly his father._

_But before he could question anything else, Ulrich collapsed, finding that fighting for his freedom had cost him his consciousness for the time being._

Once Avikar was defeated, the monsters immediately were transported away from the area. Odd sighed in relief, glad that he did not have to deal with those monsters for one more moment. He was close to getting devirtualized, but even if he was, he knew he distracted the monsters from Yumi.

Yumi picked herself off Ulrich, staring at him as he devirtualized. Then, she suddenly realised she wouldn't be on Earth unless she was removed from Lyoko quickly. There was no time to think about the past battle.

She commanded Jeremie to materialize her and Odd back on Earth. Odd was confused, but then he understood why Yumi wanted to head back to Earth right away. Jeremie typed up the process quickly, sending Yumi and Odd back to the scanner room.

Yumi leapt out of the scanner, observing the scanner doors before her. They promptly opened, revealing Odd Della Robbia. He stepped out of his scanner, looking in the same direction as Yumi. They were eagerly waiting the return of their friend, who would be back to normal.

With a loud hiss and with a lot of steam escaping the cylinder transporter, the doors revealed a collapsing Ulrich Stern. Yumi sprinted towards her friend, catching him just in time. Odd was soon by her side, supporting his weight. However, they were both relieved that Ulrich was back on Earth, in control of his own body.

Yumi looked down at Ulrich, and smiled at him proudly. She could not have saved him without his help. And he rightly deserved his rest, after being through all these incidents, he desperately needed it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>Wow, this chapter was by far the hardest to write. Heck, I even wrote the chapter after it before this one was completed. But boy, I really like the finished result.

The reason why this is the hardest chapter to write because I was alternating between scenes on Lyoko and scenes in Ulrich's mind very rapidly. It was difficult to write it while trying to make sense, considering things in Ulrich's mind happen a lot faster than events in reality. Although, once I started writing it everything seemed to flow really well despite my fears.

The choice to kill Avikar or not was to develop Ulrich's character and to see how far he's come throughout the story. His decision redeemed a little of himself, knowing to not let anger consume him and to release it at the right time.

Well, if you have a question to ask me. **Between now and next Wednesday** is your last opportunity to. So ask me via PM your question so I can answer it in the next chapter's Author's Notes.

Anyway, drop a review and look forward to the next chapter!


	12. Chapter 12: What You Deserve

_Well, I updated extremely early because this is the final chapter of Pretty Hate Machine. I got over 2,500 hits and 63 reviews as of 8/9 September 2011, so I really appreciate everyone who has read and reviewed this fic. Now onto the final chapter!_**  
><strong>

**Pretty Hate Machine**

_Anger doesn't define me. It doesn't give me purpose. It makes me release all the doubts I have… But using it at the wrong time makes the consequences heavy. I am Ulrich Stern, and I am much more than a pretty hate machine._

**Chapter 12: What You Deserve**

During lunch the next day, Ulrich had finished discussing to the principal about his absence from school. It was less confrontational than he expected, unaware that Jeremie already covered for him. He explained to the principal, quickly finding out that Mr. Delmas was wondering about the mental state of his parents, how he and his parents were coping with the house and how they were going to rebuild.

Mr. Delmas respected Ulrich's wishes and did not press further. Instead, he was going to inform the teachers to not be harsh towards him for a two week period, so he can recover faster. Ulrich was thankful for the principal's offer, and walked out of his office.

It was a strange feeling to be free from possession, even though it wasn't directly from XANA himself. He had control of every limb of his body, without any retaliation from Avikar. He could sleep, eat and breathe, because he wasn't on Lyoko anymore. He was human again, but he didn't think of that too lightly.

Going down the route he usually travels to the Factory, he was glad he wasn't possessed for too long like William was. But he could still feel the pain of somebody using him like a puppet, making every action for him against his will. It shouldn't be right, but to remember the pain sounds like a horrible sign to Ulrich. Maybe William was better off, not feeling any pain from being manipulated by XANA.

Finally arriving in the Supercomputer Lab, his friends smiled. They were all glad he was able to come here twenty four hours later from the moment he was freed. Ulrich made a slight grin, truly knowing that he was back with his friends, as his allies, not his enemy.

"How are you feeling Ulrich?" Aelita enquired.

"Alright," Ulrich stated.

"That's good. I didn't think you were able to come here," Yumi responded, "The way you collapsed out of the scanner gave me that impression."

"It did. But, I… I wouldn't be here without you. I didn't get to say it before. Thank you, for setting me free," Ulrich replied.

"Wait, you remember that?" Jeremie asked.

"Yeah, along with other things," Ulrich answered.

"Well, that's unusual. William, Aelita and I didn't remember any events during our possession," Jeremie mentioned, "Although, Ulrich wasn't possessed by XANA directly. He was possessed by XANA's agent, Avikar. So that could explain why he could still remember the events during his possession."

Odd ignored Jeremie's further explanation and questioned Ulrich, "Could you tell us what it's like being possessed?"

"Odd! You should give him a rest from this! He's been through hell and back with his life here and on Lyoko. He needs respite!" Yumi shouted.

"It's okay Yumi. I'm happy to tell," Ulrich declared, grabbing everybody's attention, "I need to let this out anyway."

Ulrich bit his lip once the words escaped his mouth. He was unable to describe this feeling to himself, so what chance did he have to describe being possessed to everyone else? But he told himself he couldn't go back on his word. He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts before he began.

"There is no one word to describe this experience. Every day, it felt like I was pelted with hailstones in my head. When Avikar wasn't using my body against you guys, he would put me in this room, somewhere in my mind, and force me to remember all these horrible memories. Then he would use these memories to create more of these shadow slaves or whatever they are to trap me and inject me further with this substance to make me weaker. And each time I acted out of order or broke through the possession temporality, he would make me relive my dark memories to break me. I can't put into words how that feels. Being free from this possession feels weird, because I don't have that second person within me to struggle against to keep control of my body. And the fact I can control my breathing, I can eat and drink and sleep just doesn't feel right to me. It's almost as I lost what it's like to feel… human. Sorry, I'm just rambling now," Ulrich explained.

The group thought on Ulrich's words, wishing they could empathise with him. However, Jeremie and Aelita had no memory of the time they were possessed, and Yumi and Odd hadn't been possessed at all. Although, it did give them a great insight to how it felt like, and why they wanted to avoid being possessed other than the more obvious reasons.

Yumi was overcome by her feelings, feeling selfish for thinking that her own problems were greater than Ulrich's at one point. She approached Ulrich and wrapped her arms around him, letting go of her guilt, as well as trying to make Ulrich feel better.

Ulrich felt his cold body warm up instantly. Having somebody who cared about him wrapping his arms around him made Ulrich feel human again. It had been a week since the aftermath of the incident, where he hugged his mother for reassuring her. Now, he felt assured himself, and was glad he had such a good friend in Yumi Ishiyama.

He reluctantly let go of Yumi, feeling the cold air of the Factory brush through his clothing. He wished he could feel the warmness that basked from her body, but the area around him reminded him that he wasn't completely back to normal. There was something holding him back, and he knew exactly what it was.

"Guys… I need to clear up something with you. It's about how I got this injury," Ulrich announced, patting the bandage around his head.

"I think we have an idea about how you got the injury," Aelita stated.

"Something happened between you and your Dad, right?" Jeremie asked.

"Yeah. How did you figure that out?" Ulrich enquired.

"When we found out about the activities you did behind our backs, we heard a conversation you and Avikar had. It mentioned things like putting your father in jail, proving your father guilty of a crime and bringing him down. It sounded very obvious to all of us that something really horrible happened between you and your father," Jeremie explained.

"I'm sorry for all the secrets I kept from you guys. It was to protect you all from my father," Ulrich apologised, "Especially you Yumi. I-I… I should've told you everything."

"I've already forgiven you. Don't let it preoccupy you," Yumi responded.

"And you thought about us above all else," Aelita added.

Ulrich smiled, glad that he had such wonderful friends to support him. He was feeling much better than he did upon entering this room, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Perhaps the road to redemption was easier than Ulrich had thought it was.

Then again, he was still holding onto one thing from the incident. The bandage wrapped around his head. It reminded him what his father did to him that night. The wound he inflicted still hurt Ulrich from the inside, knowing that he could never trust his father again.

As Ulrich reached up for the bandage, Jeremie announced, "Ulrich, Franz Hopper would like to see you on Lyoko now."

Ulrich lowered his hand, and asked, "Why does he want to see me? Couldn't I just talk to him via the Supercomputer?"

"I asked him that, but he didn't answer. He just said 'meet me on my Replika'," Jeremie stated.

"Wait, since when did Franz Hopper have his own Replika?" Odd demanded.

"I don't know when, but I just found out it's the place we defended yesterday," Jeremie answered.

"So yesterday, we weren't just defending a place where Franz Hopper could communicate with us. It was actually the place he resided," Yumi declared.

"That's really messed up. Although, very intelligent since XANA would think that's the last place he'll hide," Odd complemented.

"So, why does my father want to see Ulrich instead of me?" Aelita questioned.

"He told me that he'd rather see you than Ulrich, but it's something extremely important related to him," Jeremie responded.

"Perhaps it's to do with being free from Avikar," Ulrich suggested.

"That sounds like the most likely case. Anyway, Ulrich, get into the scanners. I'll virtualize you to the area immediately," Jeremie proclaimed.

Ulrich promptly entered the elevator and pressed the button to go down to the lower floor. He waved to his friends just as the doors closed before him, saddened to leave them during such a good time.

As the elevator went down, Ulrich could only think of the events that happened to him over the past eight days. He knew it all started with that fateful night. Ever since then, he wanted to forget about the incident. But it was a lot more difficult than he thought it would be, as he grew worried for his mother.

Then, Avikar appeared in his life, and gave him a quick and easy solution to getting revenge on his father. Ulrich remembered feeling that was the only way to get the disturbing thoughts out of his mind, so he went along with Avikar's plans, even though they were against his morals.

When he realised Avikar was just using him, he felt like he wanted to release every negative emotion built up inside of him, and perhaps killing off Avikar would fill his appetite of revenge. However, it backfired on him.

To go on the path of redemption, Ulrich attempted to help his friends while having his body possessed. Although most of his efforts did not work, he pulled through at the right time. But each time he did that, he was going to be punished by being exposed to the horrible memory of that night.

The elevator doors opened before him, and he immediately sighted an open scanner. He quickly moved into the scanner, surrounded by the light emitting from it. He felt strangely warm, because his world was covered in darkness before he was freed.

The scanner doors shut before him, then it hummed loudly. Ulrich didn't close his eyes, afraid that he would remember that night again. However another memory filled his mind.

"_Well, your body is very energetic. Perfect. And since you've been obeying my orders__, your body will be more a lot easier to control."_

"_I still won't allow you to hurt my frien- Argh!"_

"_Quiet! Just remember, there's nothing you can do to stop me from controlling you. You're my pretty hate machine, and you'll never escape this fate."_

Ulrich chuckled to himself. He did manage to break free, thanks to Yumi Ishiyama, and his decision to spare Avikar just before the antibodies entered his body. He proved to himself that he could fight back anything, even with his own anger. He just couldn't allow it to consume him.

However, there were still many things to do to recover from these events. There was recuperating from being possessed, school getting busier and of course, ensuring his mother's safety. He managed to scrape through the past eight days untidily, but he still had those pressures riding on his shoulders.

He looked up at the top of the scanner, losing himself to its radiant warmth. He closed his eyes temporality, thinking of Lyoko and Franz Hopper. He couldn't wait to open his eyes in the beautiful world of Lyoko.

"Virtualization!"

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

If you're wondering what that 'To Be Continued' means, it means there's a freakin' sequel to this story! As if the cliffhangers and the crazy plot twists weren't enough!

Anyway, for this chapter, there's only one note for the individual chapter, and then mention the story notes.

When William was possessed by XANA, he did not remember a single event during his possession, as he reveals in 'Down to Earth'. Neither does Jeremie when he was possessed in 'Mister Puck' and Aelita in 'Saint Valentines Day'. That was because they were possessed by XANA directly (via Scyphazoa, XANA's Ghost and the necklace respectively). However, Ulrich was possessed by an agent of XANA, Avikar. Although Avikar does have powers supplied to him by XANA, he isn't XANA. Therefore, some effects of possessing people are less than what XANA can do. I hope that explains everything.

Alright, first thing to mention on the agenda is the little section in italics in between the title of the story and the title of the chapter. I put it in there for slightly foreshadowing the chapter (without giving too many hints) and as an extra dimension of Ulrich's character as he states what anger does for him and his friends. It wasn't hard to come up with them thanks to my pre-prepared story plan.

Well, some people may be wondering how the hell I got this story idea in my head in the first place. I'm happy to tell you that I was inspired by a song. And I've been putting some of the lyrics to this song as _chapter titles_ for this story. The song is _Head Like a Hole_ by Nine Inch Nails, which was their hit song off their debut album released in 1989 and remastered in 2010 titled… _Pretty Hate Machine_. So, the title of the story was taken off the album of the song that inspired me to write this story. To avoid giving the song title away too early, I avoided using certain lyrics of the song as my chapter titles. I didn't use 'God money' because I doubt any other song has so many lines that start off with those words. I also didn't use most of the critically acclaimed line this song is known for, 'You're going to get what you deserve', because that would've given away the song quite easily for those who know it.

So, I'm going to explain why I used the lyrics of this song as my chapter titles, in chronological order starting with Chapter 1. If people know _Head Like a Hole_, understand that the lyrics are not in order from the time they are sung in the song. Chapter's title is in bold.

_God money __**nail me up against the wall**__. _

Chapter 1's title. Ulrich constantly feels pinned against the wall, knowing that his father won't listen to him, but keeps on retaliating anyway. Hector shunts his son against a handle of a high cupboard during their fight, almost literally meaning 'nail me up against the wall'.

_God money's not __**looking for the cure**__.  
><em>

Chapter 2's title. Ulrich tries to find cures of the problems that arise after the events of the last night. He tries to forget the incident, tries to find a way to make his father pay for his crimes and tries to be a hero when his mother's handbag was stolen. However, Ulrich finds out there is no simple way to heal from an incident like that.

_God money's not concerned with __**the sick among the pure**__._

Chapter 3's title. Ulrich walks among society, feeling very unwell as the dark memories overwhelm him. He also sticks out as 'sick' due to the bandage wrapped around his head. And around the Ishiyama family, he feels very out of place with them, and not because they're of different ethnicities.

_God money __**don't want everything**__** he wants it all**__._

Chapter 4 and 5's title. I'll explain chapter 4's title first.

Chapter 4's _Don't Want Everything_ details Yumi's struggle with Ulrich's story weighing on her shoulders. With the addition of being forced to keep this from the rest of the group makes her regret saving Ulrich's life.

Chapter 5's _He Wants It All_ details Ulrich's desire to get revenge on his father. Despite how unorthodox Avikar's plans were, Ulrich teams up with him. Avikar delivers the dream to him, and Ulrich transforms into a Pretty Hate Machine.

_God money __**I'll do anything for you**__._

Chapter 6's title. Ulrich would do anything to take revenge on his father, even if it's obeying unethical orders from a complete stranger and being completely out of character in front of his friends. And despite his guilt, he goes ahead with the plan, as he believes it's the only easy way out.

_**Black as your soul**__. _

Chapter 7's title. Ulrich discovers how Avikar had deceived him, and plans to get revenge on him. However, Ulrich finds out that Avikar is more deceitful than he anticipated, and uses his negative emotions against him, possessing Ulrich. Ulrich has now become as black as his soul.

_God money let's go dancing on the __**backs of the bruised**__.  
><em>

Chapter 8's title. The group is exhausted, tired and frustrated that Ulrich is now on XANA's side. To add salt to their wounds, XANA decides to attack that night, and Avikar almost gets his way. Fortunately, Ulrich saves their backs.

_No you can't take that __**away from me**__._

Chapter 9's title. Originally titled _You Can't Take It_. Yumi finds that Ulrich being possessed, XANA attacks and the possibly of one happening the next day leaves her distanced from herself. She ends up realising she needs to look after herself in order to save Ulrich, otherwise she may never have the willpower to face him._  
><em>

_God money's __**not one to choose**__._

Chapter 10's title. Despite Odd wanting to save Ulrich and giving Yumi a choice to not fight Ulrich, his plans are foiled. As he finds out he's not one to choose the outcome of the battle.

_**Head like a hole**__._

Chapter 11's title. Yumi exposes the possessed Ulrich's weakness, provoking him to spar with Yumi using their Pencak Silat martial arts ability. Ulrich is also faced with a choice, and decides that revenge isn't going to fix everything for him.

_You're going to get __**what you deserve**__._

This chapter's title. Originally titled _You Know Who You Are_. Ulrich gets the bittersweet reward of obtaining his body back. Even though he finds it difficult to come to terms not being possessed, Ulrich affirms his identity, even though he is facing the scary unknown before him.

**Question Section**

So, here's what you have asked me, and that I'd promised to answer in this chapter. Although... I only really got one question that was worth answering in this section since it was quite extensive. Anyway, sorry for the lackluster question section and I hope you don't mind it.

_From __**a_queenoffairys**_: _What are the five reasons for liking the most recent chapter (Chapter 7)?_

The big reason why I liked it was because it introduced the scenes where I explored Ulrich's mind while Avikar was possessing him (or in this case about to possess him). It is a unique idea, and I don't think anybody has really delved into this. And it makes _Pretty Hate Machine_ stand out from the other Code Lyoko fanfictions.

That leads me to the second reason, which is Ulrich's form while he's possessed. It's pretty cool, considering he pretty much destroys the team by using their own powers against them. Although there has been quite a few fics with him possessed, I think having him incredibly overpowered was a different thing to do. However Yumi did find and expose his weakness quite easily.

The third reason has to be how the confrontation scene was executed. I was inspired by the scene in _Star Wars Episode III_ where Obi-Wan finds out Anakin had pledged himself to the dark side of his own free will. And I'm glad it didn't end up too similar to that scene.

With that being said, the fourth reason was Yumi's reaction to it. I was debating whether Yumi should either break down or keep a strong head on her shoulders. Even though I did feel that breaking down was out of Yumi's character, no human being, if they helped a person who ended up turning their back on them, wouldn't be able to contain their feelings about it.

Finally, this chapter had everybody involved. Ulrich was possessed, Yumi broke down, Odd trying to save Ulrich and was the first to retaliate again him when possessed, Aelita did her best to finish Ulrich off and Jeremie tried to calm Yumi down. So every character pretty much had an important role in the chapter

Well then, that's the fic. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or ask me in your review. I hope you guys really liked this fic and look forward to its sequel… _The Last Agent_. I don't know when it would be released, but I know it won't be started this year because of other commitments I have. In the meantime, I'll be writing oneshots and a crossover project involving Code Lyoko, so hopefully you guys can look forward to that. Till then, I'll see you next time!


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